what a load of me leonids

Disappointed is the first word that comes to mind.

I got up at 4:20am and sat outside in my back garden, hat gloves the lot. The skies were clear and I waited for my first meteorite shower. In the hour and fifteen minutes that I stayed out I saw 7 meteorites. Not very exciting.

I also saw 4 high altitude planes, 3 satellites and 2 bats. Lucky for me I wasn’t beside a canal.

Was that a poor show or was it normal?

If it was an average shower I won’t be getting up early again.

Couple of points - the Leonids are relatively low-level in terms of activity away from the peak (which was 18 hrs GMT this evening). This, plus the fact that rates can be variable (you could have just been unlucky in seeing a lull) can account for low rates. Light pollution can also affect observed rates - I didn't bother trying to observe the Leonids last night, given the conditions here in the London suburbs. This will be one of the last years for moderate Leonid rates until the 2030s - sadly no storms in 2033/2034 due to gravitational peturbations by Jupiter on the meteor stream.

If you can handle the cold, the Geminids next month will be well worth the effort - 50/60 meteors an hour. Not a storm by any means, but fun to watch.

A friend of mine is on an observing run on Mauna Kea, and a few hours back she told me she was seeing quite a lot of Leonids in some quite glorious skies...... not jealous in the slightest.

Well, 5th year in a row that it has RAINED on night of maximum for these meteors. Why bother, methinks.

: angry:

Seanie.

I'd say that was average enough for the Leonids.
Similar numbers here & the sky was clear all night / morning.