Leonids03

Leonid 2003 ( first released Nov 15 03)

Nov 13/14 ( 1499 dust trail of 55p/ Comet Temple-Tuttle)- Peak Nov 13 UT 1717 or Singapore time Nov 14 01 17am. This year special early encounter of debris formed in year of 1499 - faint meteors are expected. The predominantly dim meteors and low radiant height coupled with gibbous moon/thin cloud zeroed my visual count. My faithful Watec however manage to detect but a handful of meteors.

System A - watec 902H + 25 mm lens - 1 - 1/2 hr recording. Tape reviewed found only x1 Leonid near Orion ( see fig below) - LM +5 and others missed by skypatrol (see box data for detail)

System B (indoor) -watec 902H + 12 mm lens - 3 hrs recording (Nov 13 UT 1800-2000) Lm of 3+ - x3 Leonids, x1 Tau, x1 unknown bright meteor.

	System C - Watec 902H +90 degree FOV auto-iris lens. Not used. LM+2
	System D - Naked eye /Visual - (Nov 13 UT 17:30-18:30) : None Seen. LM 3+

Nov 19/20 ( 1733 dust trail) - While elsewhere ( USA/Japan/China) is seeing good crop of Leonids, we in S'pore had total disasterous sky - from mid-night Nov 19 till daybreak the sky was a solid blanket of cloud. But surprise surprise, when doing a quick review of the 4 hr tape - I even managed to get a BRIGHT LEONID with background thin cloud! The mag had to be much better than -1.. ( see box bottom left) to be seen.

System B (indoor) -watec 902H + 12 mm lens - 4 hrs recording (Nov 19 UT 1700-2000) Clouds/clouds/clouds!!!!!100%

System A - Watec 902H +25 mm +Sony Video Walkman+135 (LP) minute DV tape + me alone in a open field

System A
DV tape visual analysis ( Nov 13 UT 1727 - 1901)
Meteor No->	#1	#2	#3	#4
UT - Nov13	1818	1826	1826	1830
Local-Nov 14	2:18:52	2:26:25	2:26:45	2:30:11
mag	+3?	+1	+1	+4?
remark	Orion belt star	-	Orion	faint
SkyPatrol detected?	No	No	Yes (see box) left	No
Meteor	Leo	SPO?	Leo	Leo

2:26:45am A fast Leonid zipped by Orion. ( x2 and ending x1 dim streak), a bird flew by leaving a faint track.. it made a slight turn close to the top of the frame)

System B - Watec -902H + 12mm lens + Video cassette recorder +tripod+Skypatrol sw + luck

X1 faint 1499 Leonid( two dashes) close to Lepus. Orion's dagger visible on top left hand corner.

Another similar Leonid again near Lepus.

Taurid ( TAU) - at right bottom corner.( 4 dashes) The bright star is Sirius.

Nov 14 01:18:45 am SPO? This 9-degree spanning 1.52 seconds slow 'tear-drop' shaped meteor stole the thunder from Leonids. It entered the FOV starting from the bottom of frame near omicron Canis Major. You can actually discern the head+tiny tail in above 5- minute stacked frame above. (Below still sequences 1a-1d ). This meteor is as bright as Sirius.

Cloud Piercing Leonid in Extreme Cloud Coverage Sky: Nov 19/20 - Singapore are close to 100% cloud covered but I left a 6mm lens recording the sky anyway on 4- hr tape. Sampling reviewed a little cloud break with a couple of faint stars and within a minute of reviewing (3:58:02 am) a B RIGHT LEONID flashed by ! [see two dashes mid left in above image].

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