Via the
RMOBS forum, Chris Steyeart notified observers that Felix Verbelen and Patrick Vanouplines recorded a high number of long reflections during the morning hours (UT) of November 20.
There's an image of a fireball recorded by Ian McAdam on this night here
(large file).
Felix recorded the following large meteor echo starting at approximately
00:46UT.
Patrick recorded the following large reflection, from the same meteor, at 01:46
local (00:46 UT).
Andy Smith also recorded this event.
I also recorded this event, with the reflection from the trail lasting for
six minutes. My clock was approximately 1:30 slow.
The flow of larger meteors resulting in longer trails continued throughout the night and into the morning. The
following was recorded starting at 08:10UT.
The last large event was recorded at O9:19 UT. This trail persisted for almost five minutes. The geometry clearly
wasn't ideal, as the the intensity of the reflections actually increase over
time as the upper altitude winds distort parts of the trail into a more
favourable alignment.
Felix also recorded this same event from Belgium.
A comparison of the frequency-spread and echo duration of the
two records suggests that Felix only saw the reflection from the ionization
trail in the upper part of the atmosphere for this event. The longer duration
reflection from the lower atmosphere is not seen in Felix's record. This is
probably due to the geographical location of the meteor responsible for this
trail.
Other reflections recorded at this time were also notable for their very high spread in
frequency, presumably related to the Leonids very high entry velocity.
Details
Felix receives the VVS beacon on 49.990 MHz over a relatively
short 120km baseline. The beacon is due West (278°) of Felix's observatory.
