My 2nd Leonids
Storm (2001) Witnessed
-Is this Our last [in our living time]?
".. To many a visual treat, a chance to do some astrophotography,
a chance to travel to a dark place, for others a good introduction to
the special branch of astronomy - meteor watching"
- Special Leonid Report by yKChia
Nov 25 2001 Version 1.1
Nov 18 '01 earth
ploughed through dust-trails of Comet Temple-Tuttle resulting a grandeur
view of the Leonids Meteors downpour over USA sky at Nov 18 10UT ,and
repeat some
7-8 hours later onto East Asia. Initial estimate of ZHR( Zenith Hourly
Rate) of 1000 ( or 2000+?)US and 2700 in East Asia. Up to 20-40 meteors
per minute or even fifities (short period) were reported. While '01 ZHR is lower than '99 of 4500 seen in Jordan,
sky gazer were enjoying a relatively
'abundance' of bright Leonids, some came zipping pass the dark sky in 'pairs'.
The other bonus from the East Asia's resultant twin dust trails were the sustained
broad high ZHR lasting at a stretch for more than 2 hours ( compare
to just 40 minutes in Jordan 99). In 2001 , the actual rate was LOWER
than the predicted (5000 / 8000). This put storm level prediction
back to state of the'art' than 'science'. But at least predicted
the timing is close enough to not missed the show. Its a pity whatever modelling
refinement won't get tested till 2099 - by then the researchers and
definitely me won't be around that long to test it. I bet despite the full
moon next year 2002 - many will still flocks to view it since that might
be the last chance in their LIFE time to view any leonids storms. Or is
this year Leonids the last in our life span?
Best Memory of the 2001 Asian Storm - "2001
........ I remembered
one intense colored fireball in the west, elevation 50 degrees, seconds
later I still can discern
the individual rainbow -colored segments lingered , slowly
fading away. The color segment merged into a diluted pink , dilated and
morphed into the
typical broad based triangle , finally changing into a color of pale
greenish gray. It was like someone had left the water color painting
in the rain......"
Predicted vs Actual - The 'lower' than predicted Zenith Hourly Rate of the 2001 STORM
LEVEL was more than compensated by the brighter meteors , fireballs and longer
high ZHR . The weather co-operate also in the region ( China, Korea, Japan).