Sporadic meteor near Sirius

Sporadic meteor near Sirius..
some where overhead in Pulau Karimum Besar - SW of Singapore

cloudy sky and NoO ( november Orionid)

A subsequent plot ( using clear sky with stars) identify this loner as NoO - November Orionid

November Orionid (NoO) Nov 28 '2009

Not many meteors caught but here is one for the record - November Orionid - this meteor stream was discovered by Sirko malau from the video meteor database. Recognize the constellation of Orion on the top right?

P/S The same region where days earlier a Nova(?) was discovered there (Eridanus) leading to a scramble to ask photographers to reexamine their Leonid images in the hope of finding out the brightest magnitude ( mag 1-2?!!!) prior to discovered date.

ZHR is not the same as HR

When the predicted rate is announced as 500 ( or later scaled down to 200), the public including the media take it as Hourly Rate 500 or 200 perhaps ignoring the 'Zenith' term of Zenith Hour Rate.

A simple worksheet above illustrate the poor LM sky to Predicted ZHR vs Hourly Rate ( HR) . Unless the LM is 6.6 which means 2^(6.5-6.5)=2^0=1 and radiant is directly overhead Sine(90)=1 you will never get the hour rate = ZHR. With our less than ideal LM - the worksheet says ~ 14 Leonids /HR can be seen during the peak. Recompute the above with a good dark site where LM is 6.3. Now you can see the HR is 147 (200Zhr pred), and (500Zhr pred).
So the message is GO for a DARK SITE with good sky to appreciate the high hourly rate. Please also take note that while the shower members dominate during peak not all meteors seen were from Leonids - there are other active meteor streams and background sporadic too.

For coming Geminids ( high radiant around midnite) - if you keep the radiant within edges of your field of view you can check by extrapolation backward path of the meteor.. if it falls within the radiant area then high chance it is a Geminid (Gem) .....

Sprites ( high altitude lightning discharges) Nov 27 am 2009

Stars still shinning and a storm front gathering far in the SW....

A group of sprites clustered at the TV antennas of my opposite block. Estimate up to 10 degree in length.

Resource from the youtube- University of Alaska high speed color video imaging

tsunami clouds outside

Tsunami - wall of slow moving clouds towered above my Fov Horizon...

Nov 20 2009 - sharply reduced Leonids

Two leonids 05:15 , 05:57 42 minutes apart. Bright star(s) top - Sirius
Pretty good and clear sky. Meteor Tally ( total 17, x10 spo,x2 PSU,x2 Leo.x1 STA, x1 xVi)

Nov 19 Leonids 2009 - 2nd "bump" in the prediction

Mikhail Maslov's Leonids Prediction Chart.

7 Leonids 5:00 to 6:30 am

Leonids still active and detected in 6am slot .... this bright one 6:21am
UT format of the x7 Leonids
21:48:04
21:41:30
21:53:60
22:18:51
22:20:41
22:21:26* ( image above)
22:2607
( New**- video of these Leonids posted at youtube)

Leonids Nov 18 2009 am

4 am - 1 hr tally count.. lost 50% of sky coverage due to cloud..
The bright dotted on top - Sirius and below Canopus

Radiant plots of the leonids candidate.

3:34 am - Leonid streaks in cloudy sky with partial tail obscured by thicker clouds

02:56 - cloudy but gap let the meteor through ...but blocked
For those who had struggled to view from midnight till late 3:00am
the sky was really bad. Most of the dimmer meteor's tail would disappeared leaving a small portion of the luminous head.. a blip that could be easily missed.

6:05:21 - one Leonid in the 'clearer' side of the sky

6:24 am and was getting brighter,
still a fast moving tadpole shaped Leonid on the
upper right image with distinctive terminal burst!

Nov 18 '09 5:00 - 6:00 am ( UT Nov17-21:00 to 22:00 hr)
Predicted Peak ~ 5:40am - note no fireball observed in the 89 degree FOV.

Due to the weather condition - layers of thin clouds, it was difficult to see them visually as the dimmer tailed might be hidden in clouds so a tiny portion plus nucleus head left.
[ Bright Star streaks in above stacking: Top right - 'Belt' stars , Rigel (Orion), middle Sirius (Canis Major), mid lower Canopus ]

(New** 29/11/2009 -> Video posted to youtube )

UT
Nov 17__total_ leo_ psu_dad_hyd_noO_spo
18:00-19:00 __1__1_0_0_0_0_0
19:00-20:00 __5__3_0_0_0_ 0_2
20:00-21:00 __9__6_0_0_1_ 0_2
21:00-22:00 _24_14_3_2_ 0_1_4
22:00-22:30 __3__2_0_0_0_ 0_1

Total : total(42), leo(26),psu(3),dad(2),hyd(1),noO(1),spo(9)

OutLook for Leonids 2009 - 1/5 storm level ( scale down from 1/2)

Simulated view using Stellarium on Nov 18

Mikhail Maslov's Prediction chart above grid at 3 hours interval

Watch November 18 Wednesday 2 am till dawn. Time shown is in UT. Add +8 and minus 24 to get into our local time.

SM - this is for you

Two planks of woods, ball & socket head, wind nut/screws and a photo tripod completed the support structure for 'ad-hoc' wide angle night sky video patrol system.

Stick it outside the window system( minus the cables)

Nov 2009 meteors

A long trail meteor shooting from left to right.

A nice bright one .. video for both posted at youtube