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There are two shooting stars at the right and at the lower right of the photograph. Leo is looking up at the middle of it.
November from 18th to 19th, 2001.
I counted up 1126 meteors, though an irresponsible way of counting. It was an highest scale of meteor stream I have ever seen. As about a few hundreds of shooting stars at most through a night in the normal year, I counted them without breaks in the beginning.
It was cloudy the night before the day and the early evening of the day, but it was clear through the night.
I think stars of the third or fourth magnitude can be seen at Kitamoto, Saitama. I tried 15 minutes fixed exposures, but they were out of focus in the beginning, and after that, the lens got wet with the evening dew, then, few photographs were successful. I got six shooting stars in a roll of 24 exposure film.
| Period of time | Number | Number/min. | Note |
| about 23:00 - 1:45 | 100 | 0.61 | Too numerous to count up through. |
| - 2:00 | 30 | 2.0 | |
| - 2:15 | 62 | 4.1 | |
| - 2:30 | 77 | 5.1 | |
| - 2:45 | 81 | 5.4 | |
| - 3:00 | 102 | 6.8 | |
| - 3:15 | 110 | 7.3 | |
| - 3:30 | 166 | 11.1 | |
| - 3:45 | 102 | 6.8 | |
| 3:50 - 4:00 | 66 | 6.6 | Used the bathroom. |
| - 4:15 | 68 | 4.5 | |
| 4:25 - 4:30 | 29 | 5.8 | Found the lens fogged. |
| 4:37 - 4:45 | 42 | 5.3 | Lens was fogged. |
| 4:50 - 5:00 | 28 | 2.8 | |
| - 5:15 | 51 | 3.4 | |
| - 5:27 | 12 | 1.0 | Twilight began. |
| Total about 6.5 hours | 1126 |
Meteor trails, fireballs (no records of the time and numbers). Shooting stars had length from 0 degrees to 45 degrees or might have more. Generally those nearer to Leo are shorter, farther are longer. Duration are from a flash to long enough to make a wish. Some meteor trails remained a few minutes, gradually snaking and becoming dim. I think most shooting stars are in the Leonids, because they radiated from Leo. As a parking space of Saitama-Kenmin-no-Mori, Saitama prefectural forest park, where I often go to see stars, is cut off the eastern view, I did not have recognized they radiate. Meteors tend to shoot continuously. When I caught sight of something shooting in an edge of my eyes, I often watch others in the direction. They sometimes falled four or five ways at a time. I could witness meteors at everywhere I see around when the Leonids were most active. I guess they shot one per a few seconds.
NHK news reported that the stream peak was about 3:20 a.m. and meteors were observed at the rate of 5000 an hour in the place on good condition.
enlarge
There are two shooting stars
at the right and at the lower right of the photograph.
Leo is looking up at the middle of it.