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THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1467      1999 Nov 18 08.01UT
Ed:Guy M Hurst, 16,Westminster Close, Kempshott Rise,  Basingstoke,
Hants, RG22 4PP,England.Telephone/FAX(01256)471074Int:+441256471074
INTERNET: GUY@TAHQ.DEMON.CO.UK             GMH at AST.STAR.RL.AC.UK
WORLD WIDE WEB                    http://www.demon.co.uk/astronomer
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LEONIDS
John Mason, British Astronomical Association, reports via fax from
the Sinai Desert as follows:

Members of the British Astronomical Association, observing from the
Sinai Desert, north of Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt confirm that a Leonid
meteor storm occurred early on 1999 November 18, peaking between
02.00 and 02.05UT. Counts of Leonids made by individual observers
under ideal conditions rose from 8 Leonids per minute at 01.15UT to
more than 50 Leonids per minute between 02.00 and 02.05UT, and back
down to 8 Leonids per minute again by 02.50UT. The width of the
peak at half maximum was
35 minutes.

Marc Gyssens, International Meteor Organization, has issued a
press release as follows:
Leonid meteor storm materializes around expected peak time.

Experienced observers watching near Malaga, Spain, reported a peak
in Leonid activity around 2 am Greenwich Mean Time. They estimated
the activity at 20 to 30 meteors per minute. Among these were a lot
of faint meteors and almost no fireballs.

Observers near the Gorges du Verdon in the French Provence and on
Tenerife, Canary Islands, reported similar numbers around or
shortly after 2 am Greenwich Mean Time. They too were struck by the
abundance of faint meteor and the relative absence of fireballs.

Meteor astronomers reduce the actual numbers of meteors seen to a
standard value, called the Zenithal Hourly Rate (ZHR), which takes
into account the quality of the sky as well as the direction from
which meteoroids enter the atmosphere. The activity reported from
Malaga, Spain, corresponds with a ZHR in the range 3000-4000, which is
more than what most meteor observers had hoped for (around
1000).

Guy M Hurst