Leonids 2001 Meteor Gallery: Page 3
back to spaceweather.com

Summary: Sky watchers who saw it will never forget it: the 2001 Leonid meteor storm. The display began on Sunday morning, Nov. 18th, when Earth glided into a dust cloud shed by comet Tempel-Tuttle in 1766. Thousands of meteors per hour rained over North America and Hawaii. Then, on Monday morning Nov. 19th (local time in Asia), it happened again: Earth entered a second cometary debris cloud from Tempel-Tuttle. Thousands more Leonids then fell over east Asian countries and Australia.


Page 1 | Page 2 | This is Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6
All images below are copyrighted by the photographers.
Some of the videos in this collection appear in RealPlayer format.

  Photographer, Location Images Comments

Darren Talbot, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Nov. 18
#1, #2 D. Talbot: "This fireball headed into the western sky and flared up to an estimated -13 at its peak. It lit up the ground like a lightning bolt casting shadows everywhere. The smoke trail remained in the atmosphere for 20 minutes afterward."

John E Cordiale, Glens Falls, New York, USA
Nov. 18
Quicktime movie: #1 still image: #2 J. Cordiale: "The Leonids were truely spectacular. My whole family was out watching. I took both photographs and recorded video with our new ASTROVID StellaCam."

Brent Price, Antioch IL, USA
Nov. 18
#1 A Leonid by the dawn's early light! Photo details: Nikon N-90, Fuji 400 speed film, 50 sec exposure, 24mm lens.

Brad Hoehne, near Mansfield, Ohio, USA
Nov. 18
#1, #2, #3, #4 B. Hoehne (President-elect, Columbus Astronomical Society): "A group of 20 or so folks [on the grounds of the Warren Rupp Observatory] witnessed meteors too numerous to count."

Kris Asla, Aloha, Oregon, USA
Nov. 17
#1 A pair of Leonids -- one a fireball and the other an ordinary meteor -- streak past Orion in this dazzling image.

Yukihiro Kida, Hamada, Shimane, Japan
Nov. 19
#1 Y. Kida: "I captured this image from my backyard. I used a Pentax 28mm f2.8 lens, with a 2min. exposure guided on Fuji Superia 800 film. The full-sized version shows Jupiter and the Beehive Cluster."

Pete Yancey, Deep River, NC, USA
Nov. 18
#1 Photo Details: Camera: Casio QV-3000 digital 3.3MP; Exposure: F2 for 60sec ASA approx. 400

Corey A. Sloan, Lake Havasu City, AZ, USA
Nov. 18
#1 C. Sloan: "The arrow-shaped object in the full-sized photo is the T.V. antenna atop my home. The antenna appears to point directly at a bright Leonid [and at the smoke trail it left behind]."

Jimmy Westlake, Arches National Park, Utah, USA
Nov. 18
#1, #2 J. Westlake: "At the storm's peak, they were falling as fast as I could count them for nearly an hour. About a dozen during the night were what I call 'shadow-casters' as they blazed across the sky bathing the landscape in an eerie light."

Brian Oliver, near from Chinook Pass, Mt Rainier National Park, USA
Nov. 18
#1 Photo Details: Nikon F-4 ,Nikkor 35-70 at F2.8, Fugi 800 film, 30 second to 1 minute exposures.

Chris Grohusko, Cornudas Mountains, New Mexico, USA
Nov. 18
#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6 C. Grohusko: "HOLY SMOKE! This Leonid storm made me feel as if the sky had turned into a conveyor belt, packaging meteors and dropping them frantically."

Bill Smith, Cherry Springs State Park , PA, USA
Nov. 18
#1 B. Smith: "This image has Leo in the center; the streaked clump is Coma Berenices. There are 4 good meteors and a couple more faint ones. Note also the great wedge of zodiacal light!"

John and Nena Gilbert, Olinda, near Melbourne, Australia
Nov. 19
#1, #2, more These images show Leonids streaking between clouds over Australia. Photo details: ES Pentax - lens 1:2/55mm - apeture 2.8 - manual exposure of 30 secs.

Brian A. Klimowski, near Murdo, South Dakota, USA
Nov. 18
#1, #2, #3 B. Klimowski: "Had to drive a couple hours to avoid the clouds - well worth the the trip however as the meteor shower was spectacular in south-central South Dakota." Photo details: Canon AE-1, 24mm lens, Fuji 800 print film, 30-100 second exposures, frozen hands.

Martin George, near Launceston,
Tasmania, Australia Nov. 19
#1 Photo details: Fuji 800 film, 50mm f/1.7 lens

Jim Brownfield, Huntsburg, Ohio, USA
Nov. 18
#1, #2, #3 J. Brownfield: "The vapor trail images were taken with a 50mm lens set at f/1.4 for a 1 minute exposure. The image with the burst was taken with the 50mm lens set at f/2.8 for a 10 minute exposure."

Mike Boschat, St. Croix Observatory, near Halifax,
Nova Scotia, Canada
Nov. 18
#1, #2, #3, #4, #5 M. Boschat: "I used various exposures on Kodak Gold 400 ASA and my old Soviet Zenit-B camera with a 50mm f/1.7 lens."

[movie]
Christie and Carrie Ponder, near Franklinton, Louisiana, USA
Nov. 18
MPG movie: #1 still images: #2, #3 Christie and Carrie Ponder captured this Leonid fireball using a Sony 8mm video camera. C. Ponder: "Some friends and I left Houston, Texas, to find clear skies. We ended up in Louisiana! This was my first meteor shower and it was awesome!"

Anura Soori, Melbourne, Australia
Nov. 19
#1 A. Soori: "I live in an area close to the city. Even with extensive light polution I managed to capture a few Leonids on film. I shot these pictures with a Minolta 5xi, 28-80 lens, with 30 sec exposures. I had to stay inside my garage to avoid the glare from the street light in front of my house."

More images (click on the name of the photographer to view the image):
Ronnie Sherrill (Troutman N.C.); Seth Schlifer (Surrey, BC, Canada); Peter T. Weady (McCain Valley
Cooperative Management Area, east San Diego County, CA); Ronald D. Waters (Mobile, Alabama); David Clark (Mooresville, NC); Dennis Lathem (Hoover, Alabama); Rick Saundry (Lumberton, MS)

back to spaceweather.com