Visual Observations Of The Leonid Meteors 1998 In Yunnan

The 1998 Leonid meteor shower was observed at the Gaomeigu station of Yunnan Observatory during five successive days in November. The visual records indicate that the number of meteors increased suddenly, from a ZHR of about 140 to over 400, in the early morning of November 17th, Beijing time. But it decreased slowly in the following two days. During the maximum there was a high proportion – about 10 percent – of very bright fireballs with enduring trains. The brightest one was about -10 magnitude with a smoke train fading about three minutes after. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.