Leonid '99 Success in Sinai - Extracts from the Diary of Martin Mobberley
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Another TA Exclusive!!!
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Anyone reading the article by Rob McNaught on p279 of the March '99 TA
would have had their appetite whetted for the opportunity of a lifetime,
ie to see a Meteor Storm on Nov 18th 1999 at around 2h UT from the Middle
East. The extraordinary reversal of weather probabilities which enabled
a few UK meteor observers to see the 'day early' fireballs in 1998 while
Darjeeling was clouded out had simply increased my resolve to stick to
plan A for '99. (Plan A being that for chance-of-a-lifetime events you
must always flee the UK). While Total Solar Eclipses are relatively 
commonplace at 70 per century, meteor storms and great comet fly-bys are not.
So despite the Darjeeling misery of 98 (see TA 1998 Dec p193) nothing
would stop me heading for Sinai in November 99. The decision was a very
easy one this year as nightime cloud over the Sinai Desert is somewhat rare!
Also, unlike the misery of travelling to Darjeeling (35 hours with no sleep!)
the trip to Sharm El Sheikh on the shores of the Red Sea was a direct plane 
flight of well under 5 hours.
A large number of well known amateur astronomers started to gather at the
Air 2000 Gatwick check in on Nov 12th. Interestingly we were heading for
Egypt at the same time as another group bound for Tenerife. Robin Scagell
spotted Nick James and myself pigging out with a massive pre-flight breakfast 
and wished us well for the Leonids.
Egypt bound astronomers included John Mason, Brian & Hazel McGee, Nick Hewitt, 
Nigel & Alex Evans (Orwell A.S.) and Jon Shanklin. In addition Rita Whiting, 
Valerie Stoneham and John Wall represented Crayford A.S.
Other familiar faces on the trip were John Blake (Loughton), Patrick Lindfield,
Mike Frost (Rugby), John Cook (Wolverhampton), Steve Sweet (Guernsey), Peter
Challen (Newbury A.S.), Robert Williams (Huddersfield), Brian Taylor 
(Sandhurst) and Bruce & Julie Enders. 
I failed to catch the name of the astronomer who, at the hotel pool, revealed 
that his multi-coloured thong was colour co-ordinated with his tattooed 
buttocks! 
Most of the passengers on the Air 2000 Flight AMM202C to Sharm El Sheikh
from Gatwick were with Explorers Tours...70 Astronomers and even more Scuba
Divers. From small beginnings in the 70s and 80s, Explorers Tours core 
business is now Diving Holidays (they are the 2nd biggest in the UK in this
specialist field). Brian McGee, Explorers boss, has a large stake in the 
Ocean Lodge hotel at Sharm El Sheikh so we were in no doubt we would be looked 
after well.
After take off at 12:15 UT from Gatwick we arrived (after dealing with the 
inevitable un-communicative jobs-worth immigration officials and the baggage
reclaim system....bliss compared to India though!) in our hotel rooms well
before 20:00 Egypt time (18:00 UT). The Darjeeling trip was never like this.
The two hotel dogs (identical, except one had a limp) spent the night outside
my room and the McGee room....this pattern continued throughout the week.
On the next day (Saturday 13th), Nigel Evans, Mike Frost and myself (veterans 
of Bonaire diving...see TA 1998 March p270) hired the required Scuba gear 
from the Dive Centre at the Ocean Lodge hotel and set out to see what the
Red Sea was really like. Our underwater guide, Alice, took us on a fascinating
trip through mountains of (largely dead) coral and into some quite 
claustrophobic passages. Due to my own and Nigel's lack of practice since
Bonaire the terrifying mask flooding and loss-of regulator simulations had to 
be performed underwater to check out our confidence levels. But once this was 
done I was relieved and slightly more relaxed (although still somewhat
apprehensive....it's scary down there if you have'nt dived for nearly two 
years). I went on two boat dives in the Red Sea but decided that was enough.
Kitting up with all the (incredibly heavy above water) equipment on a listing 
boat on a slippery deck, full of divers, was just a bit too much hassle for 
me. 
Plus, unlike Bonaire in the Caribbean, the underwater scene was choc-a-bloc 
with Divers (Shoals of Divers in fact) and there was evidence of considerable 
damage to the underwater world.
On subsequent days I went on snorkelling trips with Hazel, Alex, Nick Hewitt 
and Jon Shanklin, which I found much more relaxing.
We also went into town where we learned that bartering is a way of life and
that British nationals are greeted by "you are English...lovely jubbly"

So what about the Astronomy I hear you cry!

Well, our first trip to the Sinai Desert was on the Saturday evening (13th).
Optimists in the group pointed out that the Desert was full of Scorpions
and unexploded mines, but I pointed out that as a GEC employee, death is
something to look forward to, not to fear.
After a brief 45 minute bus trip we were at our outdoor Bedouin site,
complete with mattresses in a large observing circle. John Mason, in his 
inimitable style, treated us to a remarkable tour of the Night Sky with an 
astonishingly powerful and well-focussed torch which could be used as a 
pointer, even in the dry desert air. 
As John described the Taurid meteors a brilliant Taurid, at least as 
bright as Venus streaked below Jupiter & Saturn at 20:14:20 UT.....a superb
omen perhaps?
The sky was crystal clear and I could see nearly 30 stars in the square of
Pegasus...most agreed the zenithal limiting mag was close to 6.5. There was
no wind and no dew...plus the nighttime temperature was around 15-20C..ideal
conditions. 
What would the next few nights bring?
(Incidentally the site was at 28 degs, 4.193' North; 34 degs 22.521' East)
Would we need to bring fireproof buckets to collect the flaming meteorites
from the desert floor on the Wednesday night?..I felt we would!
Sunday saw the first appearance of Explorers 5" Celestron Nexstar, complete
with Inconel Solar Filter. Hazel and I set the telescope up by the hotel pool
and captured the Sun in the field. The sunspots were abundant and massive with
a particularly large group approaching the meridian. A steady stream of 
astronomers and curious divers formed a queue to see the spectacle.
I was very impressed with the view through the instrument.
That night the Nexstar was sited on the roof terrace alongside a number of 
90mm Meade ETX's and binoculars. I was especially pleased to look through 
Peter Challen's 860 pound Canon 15x45 Image Stabilised binoculars....a
fascinating experience....what could George Alcock do with a pair of those!
Press a button and stars stop jiggling rapidly and just glide about the field. 
Jupiter, Saturn, M42, the Double Cluster, the setting Moon and a host of 
other targets were viewed from the Roof Terrace with the telescopes.
Over the next few days, John Mason, Nick Hewitt and myself gave a series of 
talks on the Leonids, Galaxies & the Sinai Sky and Astrophotography, with
most of the daytime free for sitting by the pool/swimming in the pool
/snorkelling....with the temperature just under 30 C.. it's a tough life!!
On the Tuesday night 42 of the 70 astronomers spent the entire night in
the Sinai desert. After last years pre Tempel-Tuttle plane crossing fireballs
nothing was left to chance! Also, this was a chance to check out all the
equipment. I spent the night checking that my stepper drive barn door and
fish eye arrangement was working and I took many fish eye shots of the
sky down to the Southern horizon...clearly marked by the star Canopus, 
invisible from the UK of course. Hardened and experienced meteor watchers
like John Mason and John Shanklin made meticulous meteor counts throughout
the night. The mood was a bit pessimistic as the night ended and dawn rapidly
arrived...with only 15-20 Leonids per hour being seen, had we even reached
the plateau level? Asked for my opinion I suggested all we could do was wait
to see what the 17th/18th would bring. At least we could all have day time
kips in our rooms or by the pool before the big night.
On the evening of the 17th all 70 amateurs plus a number of fascinated Divers
piled on two buses for the 45 minute trip to our site.
The Moon was well past first quarter by now and the moonlight shadow of the 
south-western hills could be seen casting a shadow on the north-eastern hills 
as the Moon set. 
I positioned myself well away from the main group and very close to Nigel
and Alex Evans spot. For those of you who have seen my photos on web sites
the red glow at the base of some of my fish eye shots is Nigel's head torch!
As the sky became darker we had some annoyances from the odd vehicle travelling
up near our site with headlights full on. Fortunately however a bombardment of
good old Anglo-Saxon abuse from John Wall ensured that we were not seriously
disturbed by the drivers again until dawn!
As the Moon became less of a problem I started 16mm f/2.8 fish eye photography 
with the barn door stepper drive at 0030 Egypt time/2230 UT and fixed camera 
(Canon 50mm f/1.8) shots at 01:12 Egypt time/23:12 UT.
With the Moon having set it became very obvious that there were far more 
Leonids about than on the previous night. 
By 0300 Egypt/0100 UT it became very obvious that things were most definitely
hotting up and we really could be about to witness a once-in-a-lifetime 
spectacle. Visual observers were seeing around 5 Leonids per minute and the
spectacle was exceeding my own personal best meteor experience...the 1996
Dec 14th Geminids. But it was to improve by a factor of 10!
As we went beyond about 10 meteors/minute, shrieks from John Mason approached
orgasmic levels as his voice echoed around the desert hills, much to
everyone's amusement!
Typical Leonid counts by experienced individual observers increased to 15 per 
minute by 0330, 29 by 0345 and over 50 by 0400 Egypt time (0200 UT)!! 
My main concentration was on photography and I had no wish to bias the
visual results with my own counts and inexperience, but when I was not
attending to camera equipment I stared at the Sickle and counted meteors
I could see from 0358-0402 Egypt time (0158-0202 UT). For each of the 4, 1 min
periods my counts of Leonids seen where:- 35, 23, 30, 32. Less than the
experts (but I had been fiddling with torches only minutes earlier).
The peak timing was only minutes earlier than predicted by Asher and McNaught. 
The Earth was flying through space and hitting Leonids...and that's what it 
felt like.
And if you turned around and faced the northwest the meteors were all 
re-converging towards the anti-radiant!! Remarkable!! 
Every few minutes something bright (zero mag or so) was flying through
Ursa Major where my fixed camera was pointed. The Great Bear was standing
on it's tail just clear of the northern hills.
The activity seemed to come in bursts...sometimes there were several meteors 
per second for several seconds, then a gap of 7 or 8 seconds and another 
burst. But there were no fireballs and I did'nt see anything as bright as
the Saturday night Taurid.
As Venus rose during the storm peak the Eastern sky noticeably brightened...
Venus was painfully bright in that sky!
By 0415 Egypt/0215 UT rates had dropped to 30/minute as seen by the experienced
observers and they were back down to 7 per minute as the night ended just
after 0500 UT/0300 am. 
We had got what we came for...we had seen a METEOR STORM!!!
How brief these meteor storms are and how easily they could be missed if you
were'nt looking or were in bed or clouded out. The experienced observers were
above the half-maximum point of just under 30 meteors/minute for a scant 35
minutes and the exciting bit was only two hours across....I wonder if 
storms associated with other showers are sometimes completely missed?

In many ways I was glad I was not a serious meteor observer. Between rewinding
the barn door drive every 14 minutes or so (the Canon was under Command Back 
control, the 16mm fish eye was not) I just laid back and soaked the spectacle
up. Occasionally I would stand up and just look around at the activity in
disbelief. I was determined to retain and savour the memory; maybe I'd never
see this spectacle again?
As dawn broke we posed for a few photo's and trudged in the Caster Sugar-like 
sand, back to the buses and back to Sharm El Sheikh. The bus trip back was
surprisingly quiet...most people just stunned by what they had seen.
After a few hours sleep, most observers slowly reappeared by the pool...
the astronomers always in the shade......the divers in the Sun.
Nick James, John Mason and Jonathan faxed Guy and in Guy's ever efficient
way, our results were passed to CBAT and appeared on an IAUC before the day
was out. Rumours abounded that the legendary meteorite hunter Mustafa Bolide
was in the vicinity....until it was realised that he was a figment of my mind!
John Mason, Nick James and Jon Shanklin spent a third night in the Desert
to get the other side of the plateau but for the photographers the spectacle
had passed and while we glanced at the night sky from the hotel roof terrace
our prime concern was to get the photo's developed and see what we'd captured
when we got home.
We left Sharm for the airport at 6pm on the 19th...back through the X-Ray
machines and airport check-in. Not surprisingly, John Mason was mistaken 
for an International sex symbol and was quizzed by air port officials as to 
why he was not accompanied with a bevy of glamouros women (he had appeared 
on the Sky at Night in Egypt twice while we were in Sharm).
On the flight back on Friday night I scoured the newspapers for anything
on the Leonids, but the only meteor observer mentioned was a witness to 
the attempted suicide of mass murderer Fred West's sister! 
The rest of the paper was dominated by the pregnancy at no. 10!!
My photo's turned out OK. The fish eye captured about 3 or 4 faint Leonids
& 1 or 2 bright ones per 14 min exposure (Kodak Royal Gold 1000, 16mm f/2.8)
around the peak. The 50mm f/1.8 fixed camera got 3 or 4 faint Leonids per
frame and sometimes 1 or 2 bright ones (these were all in Ursa Major, 7 minute
exposures, all on Kodak Royal Gold 1000). I captured most photographic
meteors before the visual peak, especially around 23:30-0020 UT and the 
bright trails all start off green and turn red at the peak/end of the trail.

All in all a highly successful and relaxing Astronomy holiday, only marred by 
the thought of returning to work on Monday.
Plans are already in motion for a trip to Baja California for the Leonids 
in 2001 (2000 being severely affected by Moonlight).
As John Mason said, Well Done Asher & McNaught!!
Martin Mobberley 
Denmara, Cross Green, Cockfield, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk IP30 0LQ