Results from the 1998-2002 Leonids

The following plots show the rates and times for the 1998-2002 Leonids. Unless otherwise noted, the values are those obtained by Aerospace Corporation observers. (UT stands for Universal Time, or equivalently, the time at Greenwich, England. To get Eastern Standard Time, simply subtract 5 hours; for Pacific Standard Time, subtract 8 hours.) (ZHR stands for Zenith Hourly Rate, or the average number of meteors seen by an observer looking straight up with clear and dark night sky.)

The observing for the 2002 Leonids was conducted by Aerospace Corporation personnel at the Joshua Tree National Park in the desert of southern California of the United States during the early morning hours of November 19, 2002 from just before midnight until 5 AM local time. The expected peak did occur as predicted. However, the model predictions generally anticipated the maximum to occur at approximately 10:30 UT while the maximum was observed to actually occur about 15-20 minutes later. The timing and magnitude seen at Joshua Tree matched with the observations of other researchers fairly well.

The 2001 Leonids were truly a spectacular event. There were two predicted peaks, one over the United States and the other over the western Pacific with anticipated rates of approximately 1500 and 10000 meteors per hour respectively. The Aerospace Corporation sent out observers to the Joshua Tree National Park in the California desert east of Los Angeles and to the Learmonth Solar Observatory in Australia to get a clear view of the shower. The western Pacific peak occurred slightly ahead of when the observatory came into view but the tail end was nicely seen. The US peak was viewed in its entirety and corresponded well to predictions.

For the 2000 Leonids, there were two peaks on the night of the 17th/18th of November. The first was a broad peak that matched closely with the expected time of 03:44 UT with peak meteor rates of ~300 over Europe. The second peak occurred about half an hour (~07:15 UT) before the expected time of 07:51 UT over the eastern United States and had peak rates of ~400 per hour. No plot is shown as The Aerospace Corporation did not conduct observations for this event.

The 1999 Leonids lived up to it's billing as one of the most extreme meteor events the current satellite community has had to face. The primary peak occurred as expected over the Middle East at 02:08 UT, November 17; both amateur and professional astronomers reported meteor rates as high as 2200 meteors per hour. A second peak was observed over the United States with rates exceeding 100 meteors per hour around 08:30 UT on November 18.

In 1998, two peaks occurred in the activity of the Leonids. The first occurred about 18-20 hours before the time of the expected storm with a peak rate of approximately 260 meteors per hour. This intense, unexpected shower had a broad peak that lasted for about a day and consisted of older material from previous cometary passages. It was followed by a second peak occurring at the predicted time of the storm (point of closest approach between the Earth and the center of the meteor stream) with a maximum rate of ~130 meteors per hour. (The ZHR results were obtained with gratitude from the web homepage of the International Meteor Organization.)