"Rick" wrote in message ...


2001, while a nice show, was nothing like what happened
in 1966.

By now it's obvious these "researchers" have no clue about
the true location of the Tempel-Tuttle debris trail(s). They've
been all but promising a storm similar to 1966 every year
since 1999, and all of them have basically sucked (except
for 2001, and even that was a shower -- not a storm).

It may have not been quite up to the 1966 storm, but there were a
number of places on Earth where the activity reached storm level (you
apparently weren't at the right place at the right time). Even last
year (2002) when the nearly-full moon was up, there was a brief time
when the number of meteors seen in the middle of the U.S. reached
near-storm levels (I saw 5 appear in less than one second at one
point, although the hourly rate was still in the several hundred per
hour range). Even out of the peaks, the 1999 display was better than
any other annual shower I have ever seen (well over 300 meteors
visible per hour for at least two hours). The 2000 shower had moon
problems, but still ranked well above the shower rates for every
single annual shower. (I was clouded out but had over 500 radio
meteor "pings" per hour). The 2001 shower was also vastly better than
any other annual shower I have ever seen (not quite a storm, but
pretty close for a while, as they were up to 19 meteors in a one
minute interval), so I would not say that any of them "basically
sucked". Quite frankly, the Leonids from 1999 to 2002 were the best
showers I will probably ever see. It looks like you got your hopes up
a little too high, as nobody "promised" a storm, but indicated that
one was possible (and to some extent, they were right). Clear skies
to you.

David W. Knisely
Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
Hyde Memorial Observatory: http://www.hydeobservatory.info/

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