The Leonid meteor storm of 1999.
On the night 17/18 november 1999 some astronomers expected a meteor storm above Western Europe. During that time the Dutch Meteor Society organised a big observing campaign in Southern Europe. The team I was in stayad at La Roque des Alberes, a very small village near the French/Spanish border, lying against the Pyrenean mountains.
Due to bad weather forecasts we had to move in southern direction. After a 600 km drive we found a observing site near the small town of Xalos (~40 km south of Valencia). After setting up the equipment we hope that the forecasts from the astronomers came out. And it did! After a while rates go up and at the maximum of the storm we could see 40-55 Leonids a minute! Sometimes you could see 5-8 meteors in a second, followed by a short period with nothing to see. A real thrilling experience, everywhere you look you could see the meteors pooring down from the head of the constellation Lion (Leo). Most meteors we observed this night were weak, three real bright meteors (fireballs) were seen.
This night I used a Canon T70 with a 1.4/50 mm lens in combination with Kodak Elite II 200 asa colorslide film. The Canon T70 is operated with a command back, so I could let the camera do her work (automaticly) so I could enjoy the celestial show. Expusure time : 9m58s each photo. Weak meteors are marked with an arrow!
For a English report/story about this Leonid expedition and other Leonid expeditions in 1995 (Spain), 1996 (northwest France), 1997 (The Netherlands), 1999 (China), 1999 (Spain), 2000 (Portugal), 2001 (China), 2002 and 2003 (both Portugal) see my website http://www.koenmiskotte.nl (recent updates)