By Bob McGown

As the rising lion roared, stars fell from the sky! The 2001 November Leonid storm fulfilled every expectation. Passing through the cometary debris of Comet Temple-Tuttle, every 33 years the Leonid meteor shower promises celestial fireworks. Amateurs have been waiting in anticipation since 1966 for this predicted storm, being disappointed for the last two years. This early Sunday November 18th morning turned out to be the real thing! The parking lot at White River Snow Park at 4,500' was full. A large grove of firs blocked the western horizon but the south, north and east horizons were clear. It was below freezing with some gusty winds, the wind chill factor was very cold. The skies were a limiting magnitude of 6.5. There must have been 40 cars parked at the peak of the show. Arriving there at 12:45 a.m., we were just in time for the beginning of the most amazing meteor display we have ever seen. The first hour was a dazzling scene with explosive like celestial vortex display around the radiant. There were twin Earth grazing fireballs and an unusual meteor that went into a forked formation at the zenith. Occasionally, there were scintillation like flashes of 1 meteor per second, which would be 3600 /hr with a few star bursts pulses of 4 or 5 meteors. Some other unusual meteors had bladed green tails, sometimes displaying up to four individual groove-like short tailed streamers. These may have been distant since they usually appeared 10 degrees from the radiant and 15 degrees from the horizon. One fireball, a (-5) at about 1:40 a.m., had a triangular nucleus, was a distinct pinkish color and appeared to rotate. When a fast moving bright Leonid would come shooting by, a neighbor across the parking lot would pound rhythms on his bongo drums amidst many hoots and screams of delight. The 'oohs' and aahhs' reminded us of watching a celestial 4th of July Waterfront firework display. It was that good. In that first hour we observed 164 meteors, and probably missed a few with our omni directional two person meteor sector count with a zenith hourly rate of 390. On the way up, we discussed listening for whistlers on our car radio and became entirely side tracked by the brilliant display. The second hour was more spectacular. From 1:00-12:32, we counted 168 meteors, of which at least 40% were first and second magnitude which seemed to approach fireball status, all in just 32 minutes! Some clouds started floating in at 3:00 for the last hour of observing, causing some of the brightest fireballs to make flashes like an airplane's lights or appear like kaleidoscope. Everyone in the area was cheering on the fireworks display. It was a lively crowd. Dan Gray and his party reported that despite the cold temperatures, they were able to observe before the peak of the meteor shower. Many of the observers had never looked through a telescope, so it was a treat for them to observe Comet Linear, Saturn and the Orion Nebula through Dan Gray’s 14 inch alt/az computerized scope. Some of Dan’s meteor counts averaged from 200-500 per hour in the peak. The occasional Taurid sporadic earth grazing meteor skipped across the atmosphere, many seemed to pass through the area around Orion. The rising winds coming off Mt. Hood kept us from completing any successful astrophotography. We drove out of the gathering clouds, with flaming fireballs lighting up the night on opposite horizons illuminating the snow park reflective markers. On the drive down the mountain we passed many cars pulled off to the side of the road, their occupants looking at the sky in wonder. One Leonid fireball lit up the night sky like a flash bulb and left a vivid trail lasting for many minutes. For all those fortunate enough to witness the Leonids of 2001, it turned out to be more of a storm than a meteor shower. Our observing group rated this as one of the best astronomical experiences in their lifetime, along with Comets Shoemaker-Levy and Hyakutake - a night to remember!

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