Sino Dutch Leonid Expedition 2001.

We arrived at Beijing airport on 14 November at 11:30 local time. We teamed up with the other members and met again with Professor Jin Zhu. He would be our guide during this expedition. The next day we drove by car to the observatory of Xinglong, situated some 150 kilometers north east of Beijing. This is the main observatory of China. Situated 960 meters above sea level and located south of the main peak of Yanshan mountains and north to the Great Wall. XINGLONG Observatory is an optical observing site. Installed are a 2.16m telescope, a 1.26m infrared telescope, a 60/90cm Schmidt telescope, a 85cm reflector, a 60cm reflector and a Mark-III photoelectric astrolabe. The station offers more than 270 clear nights per year for observation. I was really proud to observe from a professional observatory. And it was really motivating to observe the Leonids from this place.

Our observing site was a flat roof next to the Schmidt dome. It provided us with a good view to northern, western and southern directions. My first observations were done during the night 15/16 November; usual Leonid activity this night. Michel did see a –6 Leonid low above the eastern horizon. 16/17 November we observed as well and again we had (as expected) the usual Leonid rates.