Brad Templeton's Photography
Leonid Meteor Storm

Leonid Meteor Storm

The story of our 2001 Leonids expedition to Japan is a long one, with lots of photos -- you will find links after the pictures.

Summary:

The meteor storm was fantastic. It was high from midnight to twilight, and in the hour around 3am was doing around one bright meteor per second (105 in 2 minutes), with the radiant at about 50 degrees for a ZHR in the 4,500 range. We had expected a storm with many dim meteors, this storm seemed to be mostly bright ones -- or the swarm of bright ones distracted us from the dim ones that probably were there. As such, it's hard to say what a real ZHR should have been.

I shot on two cameras, one a 35mm film camera with ISO 800 and 1600 film, and the D30 digital camera, probably the only digital able to do decent night photography.

My shots were astounding, but the developing was not. In eagerness, and to avoid bringing high speed film through the X-rays, I had a local shop in Tokyo develop the rolls. This is not the third world, after all, but the home of the Fuji films I was developing. Unfortunately they really screwed up the B&W film and left the colour film dim and unfortunately heavily scratched.

When you photograph a regular shower, you will shoot all night and be lucky to get one or two solo meteors. For this storm, every single frame got multiple meteors. Most got more than 4, and a series near the peak all had more than 10 meteors per frame! Only the brightest meteors will show up on film, which makes this even more impressive. On two of the prints, made before the negatives were scratched, you can see over 20 meteors. We're working on getting better scans to show this out.

The first roll was shot with a 17mm f/2.8 lens on Fuji NHG II 800 speed film. Mostly 3 minute exposures, with some 5 minute exposures at the end. A few more frames, none of which were usable, were shot on 1600 NEOPAN film. Most shots were near the radiant, a few to the north and a few to the south with Orion.

The D30 digital camera shot 10 second exposures at 800 and then later 400 ISO. It takes about 22 seconds to do this since it then shoots a dark frame of 10 seconds to eliminate noise, but there is still tons of noise at these long speeds and exposures on any non-astronomical digital camera. I shot at first with a 50mm f/1.8 lens -- which as the field of view of an 80mm lens on a 35mm film camera. This is a tiny field of view, and in a normal meteor storm would get nothing. Amazingly, the digital captured several solo meteors, and one triple meteor. Later I put the 17mm lens on the digital (equivalent to a 27mm lens on 35mm) and caught some double meteors.

Note that some of these may be dark on some screens, and to see all the meteors you may need to adjust your gamma up or turn up brightness.

More details below -- here are the pictures.

Created with The GIMP
5560-lovely-solo.jpg
(1280 x 853 - 131K)
Created with The GIMP
Created with The GIMP
5637-pair-leonids.jpg
(1280 x 853 - 124K)
Created with The GIMP
Lovely solo meteor with digital camera near ?
(1280 x 853 - 131K)
Lovely solo meteor with digital camera near ?
A pair of Leonids caught in 10 seconds at the horizon, 27mm field of view on digital camera 10 second exposure.
(1280 x 853 - 124K)
A pair of Leonids caught in 10 seconds at the horizon, 27mm field of view on digital camera 10 second exposure.
Not many Leonids, but we stood in the frame and shone a flashlight on ourselves (not very well) to get in the picture with the Leonids.
leo-us.jpg
(1280 x 846 - 99K)
Not many Leonids, but we stood in the frame and shone a flashlight on ourselves (not very well) to get in the picture with the Leonids.
After the peak, a swarm shoots through Canis Major and Orion.  Stars are doubled because I covered the lens for some cars that drove by.
leo0a.jpg
(1280 x 846 - 120K)
After the peak, a swarm shoots through Canis Major and Orion. Stars are doubled because I covered the lens for some cars that drove by.
10 Leonids, including a bright swarm right near the radiant.
leo10a.jpg
(1280 x 846 - 131K)
10 Leonids, including a bright swarm right near the radiant.
12 Leonids stream away from the radiant
leo11a.jpg
(1280 x 846 - 159K)
12 Leonids stream away from the radiant
13 Leonids swarm from the radiant down to the horizon
leo12a.jpg
(677 x 1024 - 66K)
13 Leonids swarm from the radiant down to the horizon
11 Leonids, several long and bright, swarm from Leo
leo15a.jpg
(1280 x 846 - 70K)
11 Leonids, several long and bright, swarm from Leo
Half a dozen swarm through milky way by Canis Major.  Lots of scratches
leo16a.jpg
(1280 x 846 - 85K)
Half a dozen swarm through milky way by Canis Major. Lots of scratches
A whopping 13 meteors swarm away from Leo to Orion.  Some idiot, namely me, turned on his red flashlight to look at another camera
leo17a.jpg
(1280 x 860 - 90K)
A whopping 13 meteors swarm away from Leo to Orion. Some idiot, namely me, turned on his red flashlight to look at another camera
Looking North, a few small exploders in this 5 minute exposure slowing lights of fishing village.  (Not really that bright, film developing was low contrast)
leo1a.jpg
(1280 x 846 - 114K)
Looking North, a few small exploders in this 5 minute exposure slowing lights of fishing village. (Not really that bright, film developing was low contrast)
11 Leonids from the radiant, Jupiter glows brightly
leo22a.jpg
(1280 x 860 - 129K)
11 Leonids from the radiant, Jupiter glows brightly
Pretty picture of a bright Leonid and others heading due north
leo2a.jpg
(1280 x 846 - 106K)
Pretty picture of a bright Leonid and others heading due north
5 Leonids from a different angle
leo30a.jpg
(1280 x 860 - 81K)
5 Leonids from a different angle
A pretty pair, one that exploded and kept going
leo31a.jpg
(1280 x 860 - 84K)
A pretty pair, one that exploded and kept going
leo33a.jpg
(1280 x 846 - 57K)
leo34a.jpg
(1280 x 846 - 87K)
Small ones on the horizon, pink ones going horizontal
leo6a.jpg
(677 x 1024 - 44K)
Small ones on the horizon, pink ones going horizontal
Brightness bumped, several rain to the horizon
leo7a.jpg
(677 x 1024 - 106K)
Brightness bumped, several rain to the horizon
17, count 'em, 17, stream down to the horizon.  Over 20 visible in the print, we're working on a better scan
leo8a.jpg
(677 x 1024 - 81K)
17, count 'em, 17, stream down to the horizon. Over 20 visible in the print, we're working on a better scan
leo9a.jpg
(1280 x 846 - 141K)
"Just" ten or so, but a pretty starburst
This cropped Leonid left a trail on the film
leotrail.jpg
(984 x 1024 - 77K)
This cropped Leonid left a trail on the film
Here it is, a triple Leonid caught in 10s by the digital camera with 80mm field of view!
triple.jpg
(1280 x 853 - 121K)
Here it is, a triple Leonid caught in 10s by the digital camera with 80mm field of view!

Lost in Japan Index

Modern Kyoto | Old Kyoto | Nara | Driving to Mie | Leonid Meteor Storm
Miyajima | Hiroshima | West Honshu | Takayama | Tsukiji Fish Market
Ginza | Modern Tokyo | Tokyo (Misc) | Bridges of Tokyo 12 | Tokyo-above

We had spent the first few days constantly tracking weather reports to see what location would be clear. We had chosen Japan because other than Guam, it would have the radiant highest in the sky for the biggest storm. And Asia was predicted to have twice the storm of the USA. Japan also has good logistics -- you can take the Shinkansen high speed train up and down the length of the country in just 7 hours. It also has lots and lots of light pollution, and a higher risk of clouds than China or Australia.

However, Australia would have only half the meteor rate that we would see in Japan, and while China would have only slightly less, it wasn't practical to arrange an expedition there on short notice. Airfares to Japan were around $400. Plus it is a very interesting place to visit.

Fortunately, as the day neared, much of Japan looked clear. Amazingly there were 4 different weather sources, all disagreeing until the final day. On that day we decided to go to the rugged coast the Mie Prefecture, which is on the Kansai (Kinki) peninsuala, south of Nagoya and Kyoto. We booked a room at a resort hotel where nobody spoke any English, but we had our phrasebooks and car. We ended up in a tiny fishing village called Kii-Nagashima.

The hotel had dark skies (which were cloudless) but had bright streetlights in a deserted construction zone which would be on all night. So we explored the coastal road and found a windy section of the road that had been closed after the bypass was built. We went down it a short distance (further it was overgrown) and found a spot with a nice clear eastern view, blocked a bit behind us to the west. But it was possible to lie down and fill your field with nothing but stars in a dark sky, limiting magnitude about 6.

We returned to the hotel to get cushions, blankets and supplies, and left there around local midnight. The show had already strated with frequent long earth grazers. Quite spectacular. We drove to the site and set up for a fabulous night.

We had taken 6 hours to get to the hotel, not the 2.5 the Avis agent estimated (Always double estimates in Japan), so things were a bit rushed. As such I didn't focus the digital camera properly at first, since it's hard to do when it's very dark and there is no moon. We managed.

The count was very high all night, and as reported, most of the meteors were bright. Later we talked to people who had seen a great show in the middle of Tokyo -- about as light polluted as you can get. Not the 1/second show but still worth staying up for.

This bodes well for next year, if the meteors are as bright there will still be a great show with the full moon. We'll be out.