Leonids 2001 Meteor Gallery: Page 1
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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.

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All images below are copyrighted by the photographers.
Some of the videos in this collection appear in RealPlayer format.

  Photographer, Location Images Comments

Jim Bryan, Gaston, Indiana, USA
Nov. 18
#1 J. Bryan: "The Leonid [that created this smokey debris] was very large and bright, illuminating the ground like lightning. The debris train was about 1 minute old when the exposure was started. Photo details: Kodak Max 400, Mamiya Sekor 1000DTL SLR, 50mm lens @ f 1.8, one min. exp. The train was visible for another 5 minutes before dissipating from view. 100% on the Wow Scale!"

Mark A. Brown, east-central Alabama, USA
Nov. 18
#1, #2, #3 Close-up of Orion's Belt: 200mm lens @f4.5. Guided for ~3.5 minutes using Fugi Superia 800 speed film. A pair of Leonid meteors in Orion: 70mm lens @f3.5. Guided for 50 seconds using Fugi 400 speed film. A meteor: 50mm lens @f3.5. Guided for ~30 seconds using Fugi Superia 800 film. Minolta SLR camera.

George Varros, Mount Airy, MD, USA
Nov. 18
#1, hi-res frames: #2, #3, #4, #5, #6 G. Varros: "This sequence of five images captured by the Meteor Tracker system at 07:42:25 UT on November 18, 2001, shows the evolution of a bright Leonid fireball. The field of view is 7 1/2 degrees. The Meteor Tracker was developed by George Varros, and in part with Dr. Peter Jenniskens of NASA AMES and Peter Gural of SAIC. "

Sherry Buttnor, Metchosin, BC, Canada
Nov. 18
#1, #2 Photo details: Kodak Max 400 film, Nikon FE camera w/ 28mm lens, 10 minute guided exposure on a B&L Criterion drive system.

Ferris Hall, North Grafton, Mass., USA
Nov. 18
#1, more The full-sized version of this image shows a pleasing star field including the planet Jupiter, and the constellations Orion and Gemini. Photo details: Exposure: 30 seconds, f2.8, 800 ISO, +5.0 push. 16mm fish eye. Nikon D1x. ~3am.

Kevin Alber, Battleground, Washington, USA
Nov. 18
#1 Bruce, Erik, and K. Alber: "This is the ionized train left by a very bright Leonid meteor, estimated magnitude -8 which appeared at 3:05 am PST. The photo was taken about 2 minutes after it passed over, and the train was visible for at least another 30 minutes!" Photo details: ASA 400 Kodak Max film, 45 seconds, F1.4

John Welsh, Valley Forge National Park, PA, USA
Nov. 18
#1, more Even the bright headlines of oncoming cars couldn't outshine this bright Leonid meteor. Photo details: Fuji 400 color neg film, 17mm Nikkor lens, F2.8, exp. 2 minutes

Lesleyanne Ryan, St. Philips, Newfoundland,
Canada
Nov. 18
#1 L. Ryan: "I used my old Minolta XGA with 400 film - exposure of about 10
seconds on f2. We had an excellent display of at least a dozen bright
meteors a minute."

George Varros, Mount Airy, MD, USA
Nov. 17
#1, #2 (Real Player) G. Varros: "This fireball appeared at 08:50 UT on Nov. 17, 2001. The field of view is 75 degrees using a Gen II image intensified camera coupled to a PC-23-C video camera. Jupiter is at the top of this image."

Collin Orthner, near Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
Nov. 18
#1, #2 Photo details: Canon G2; 15 sec exposure at f/2; 34mm focal length.

John Carlson, near Mayer, Minnesota, USA
Nov. 18
#1, #2 J. Carlson: "An awesome display. Several meteors created a visible flash and then left a glow that remained visible for up to 30 seconds." Photo details: Camera: Nikon CoolPix 995; Exposure: 8 Seconds at F/2.6

Juraj Toth, Astronomical Observatory
Modra, Slovakia
Nov. 15
#1, more J. Toth: "This picture of a Leonid in Orion is a part of an all-sky image recorded at the Astronomical Observatory Modra, Slovakia. The exposure begun at 2:01:50 UT and ended at 4:43:00 UT on November 15, 2001. Photo details: Fomapan 100 B&W film, Zeiss Distagon (fish-eye) objective 3.5/30 mm."

Anthony Lee, Lantau Island, Hong Kong, China
Nov. 19
#1, #2 A. Lee and friends from the Sky Observers Association: "Although light pollution is a problem in Hong Kong, my friends and I really enjoyed the show. We watched thousands of meteors from 00:00 to 05:30. Unforgettable!" Photo details: Ricoh GR1s, 28mm, f/2.8, film: Kodak Professional Supra 800

Chris and Teresa Anderson, Kentucky, USA
Nov. 18
#1, more A very bright Leonid in Ursa Major. Sixteen second exposure at f1.8, Olympus C3040 digital camera.

Schindler Leung, Plover Cove Reservoir, Hong Kong, China
Nov. 17
#1 In the full-sized version of this image a 0th magnitude Leonid meteor appears just between Ursa Minor and Draco. Photo details: Date: 2001/11/16; Local time: 20:33:37; Exposure: 17 s; F 2.8; Fujinon 28 mm; Fuji Superior X-tra 400.

Ricky Steele, near, Oklahoma City, OK, USA
Nov. 18
#1 R. Steele: "I took this picture of a Leonid near the Pleiades using a Sony 5 Megapixel DSC707 digital camera (30 second exposure). I live about 30 miles from Oklahoma City and we enjoyed a great show from 2:45 - 6:00 AM this morning!"

Chip Griffin, Columbus, GA, USA
Nov. 18
#1, #2 A larger version of #1 reveals a pair of Leonid meteors (one bright and one faint) slicing through the constellation Orion. Photo details: Nikon digital with 50mm lens at f1.4 for 15s

Gary Sumner, Nevada City, CA, USA
Nov. 18
#1, #2 G. Sumner: "#2 shows the trail of a fireball about 6 min. after it was gone, with the wind twisting it. (I just wish I had remembered to focus my camera!) Both shots were taken with a Canon AE1 and a 28 mm lens for 30 sec. at f2.8."

More images (click on the name of the photographer to view the image):
Andrew J. Smith (Albany, NY); Gary D. Smith (Norwich, NY)

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