The rate of Leonids is falling after Monday morning’s peak. Though the Leonids put on a great show for those in Europe, the Moon and low non-outburst rates made for a less than exciting display over the States.
I wasn’t able to get any data on the night of Nov 18/19. The reason? Operator failure. I forgot to turn the camera on. I usually double check these things but didn’t that night.
From Bob Lunsford’s notes: “Leonid rates increased a bit as expected on the morning of the 19th. They still fell well short of what was seen on the morning of the 17th. Rates fell by two-thirds on the 20th and now only a few Leonids will appear each morning until they disappear for another year. Overall meteor totals are improving as the moon wanes and becomes less of a nuisance.”
Obs Date (UT) TotTime TOT SPO NTA STA LEO AMO TUS 2008-11-20 11h 11m 24 12 4 4 4 0 SDG 2008-11-20 11h 39m 76 57 8 2 6 3 TUS 2008-11-19 00h 00h SDG 2008-11-19 08h 34m 64 36 3 5 18 2
TUS – Camera in Tucson operated by Carl Hergenrother
SDG – Camera in San Diego operated by Bob Lunsford
TotTime – Total amount of time each camera looked for meteors
TOT – Total number of meteors detected
SPO – Sporadics (meteors not affiliated with any particular meteor shower)
NTA – Northern Taurids
STA – Southern Taurids
LEO – Leonids
AMO – Alpha Monocerotids