The annual Leonid Meteor Shower peaked the night of 17/18 November, but rain replaced the meteors on the peak night! As a result, our usual Culpeper group plus several others gathered at Morning Calm Observatory on 18/19 November to take in the show. Past experience with this particular meteor shower resulted in over 45 meteors on the peak evening. Since we were outside the peak period we weren't expecting as many. Here is a great article on the details and history of the Leonid Meteor Shower:
https://www.space.com/leonid-meteor-sho ... ember-2023.
We had several newcomers, including some members of the Charlottesville Astronomical Society (CAS). We started our session early in the evening, so we could capture the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, and Uranus, as well as some other celestial favorites. Equipment included the observatory's 20 inch Obsession and 12 inch Meade
SCT. I also had my Brandon 94 (94mm,
f/7) refractor on a newly acquired Losmandy AZ8 mount. We intended to finish out the observing session by 2300 hrs so we could concentrate on the meteor shower. In addition to the planets, we checked out with the various scopes: M31, M15, M2, the Double Cluster, and of course the Pleiades. We also spent lots of time pointing the various constellations, and the prominent objects within their boundaries.
We ended up concentrating on the meteor shower from 2300 hrs until 0245 hrs, and observed 25 meteors. Our count was certainly not as high as past events, but it included several bright ones. As always, it was great watching the great hunter break the horizon and rise ever so slowly into the night sky.
Dave
