Comet Halley (1986?)

Notice the nebulous Halley Comet near the Bent of the Scorpion Tail?  My first comet in Singapore since 1980s

CA - Morgan Hill 1998?

Cassiopeia - 'W' just above the tree .. pretty hard to make out in this star-studded exposure.

The tail of Scorpion and M7  near mid centre...fixed tripod. Morgan Hill , California.

Lick Observatory, CA after a horrid ride on a winding road.

90's attempt on Video

Early attempts for astrovideography targeting moon:  Video out, gnd and +12 v from board b/w  lens board, pvc pipe and toilet-roll cardboard attachment to EP C5+ setup

90's Solar Eclipse - C5, x2 naked eye Comets

Solar Eclipse & Sunspots Feb 16 1999 - C5

Comet Hyakutake (1996/B) 3/25/1996near a cascading strings of stars - from my study room 

 film camera peggy backed on C5+, Fuji ASA400, Eos 100, f/4.5

 

 Comet Hale-Boop below. I recalled i have to ran to the school field before it set.

 Fixed tripod 

Leonids@Korea 8mm

Leonids @ Korea 2001 50mm f1.4 Canon T-70 Array ASA 800 - 6 minutes exposure

Tracing the Leonids backward and they converge to a radiant inside the Leo's Sickle

Orion vs Leonid

Canon T-70 6 - Camera  Array -

Automatic simultaneous 6 minutes exposure sequence from x1 command back

    In 1999 inspired by Robert  Mc Naught's  5-camera arrays that I saw in Jordan 1999 I started to look for similar constructions in the web.  The T-70 multiple camera system was pioneered by Robert Haas  from DMS.  The DMS group had been  using this type of set-up extensively in their meteors expedition including this year leonids.

    I was attracted by the automatic nature of the set up - so you can spend more time enjoying the meteors than manning the cameras.  No cable releases were required and the 'command-back' of a single camera will control  other cameras  to have similar  exposure duration and interval  settings.  This model auto rewind too.

   The camera was designed to use little power for keeping the shutter open - a crucial factor for avoiding battery-drain problem in long exposure.  I  have decided by 2001 I will have similar setup ( minus the rotating shutter ) and special thanks to Robert Haas info on the  circuit diagram I finally understand how to link all the cameras together with a 'slightly' different implementation. Two years had gone by and it took me more than a year to obtained T-70 cameras - grabbing them  as they surfaced  on local 2nd hand camera shops.  The special T3 Remote Adapter  is harder to find.  My first trial order ended one was the wrong type ( T3 cable release adapter). They looked almost identical.  I kept it anyway. Just a few weeks before this  Leonid  I  finally  found a source right in Singapore!  By then I had only four T-70 cameras with standard 50mm f/1.8 lens (body+lens cost  US$150). I  needed more  T-70 cameras. Finally I ordered two US and they came just days before my departure. Assembly is easy - I got a plank of laminated pine from D I Y shops, drilled 1 1/4" holes ( 6 camera so 360/6= 60 degree apart).  Secured a ball head($US 10.00-15.00) to the board  with 1-1/4  2" screw.

   Cameras were linked in RING via T3-adapter - mini mic jack - RCA cable ( custom- made US$1.00 each).  The six cables were plugged into a  multiple RCA connectors with  grounds all shorted, and the + shorted. I sat the whole set up on C5+ field tripod. I  also  weigh the whole system and  it was close to 13 Kg! The cameras, tripod  and the 6 ball heads took  up most of the weight.

Result  of the six Canon T-70 Array

Method: Six cameras with 50 mm f/1.4-1.8 lens were mounted in a 'ring' configuration. Exposure and film transportation time is assumed  same over the six cameras. Program sequence is 6 minutes exposure ( ASA800 color film) and 3 seconds delay. The sequence is repeated until end of film. Upon development of the films, visible leonids  are counted vs film number. Each camera had 3  1/2 hours of exposure.  Camera was operated from 17:23 - 21:00 UT

 Result of Leonid Count:

Iran 2000 First Gathering of Iranian Amateur Astronomy Groups in Esfahan , IRAN) An Eyewitness Account by yKChia, Singapore.

 

SUMMARY : A small group of oversea participants ( mainly US space scientists, astronomers ) gathered at the ancient capital of Iran - Esfahan at the invitation of Alireza Mehrani, for a 7-days talks, technical exchange cum sightseeing. The gathering was timed to coincide with the 'brightest' appearance of Comet Linear 1999/S4. However S4 fizzled out at perihelion ( 2 magnitude dimmer than predicted) but remain easily visible ( with a short tail and bright nucleus) in low power binoculars. The group had the opportunity to sample the rich culture, architecture of Persia and had the opportunities to mingle with the local astro-enthusiast and the general public in various walkabout.

Barely a year after my Jordan visit last November 99, I again set my foot on Middle East soil. This time to Islamic Republic of Iran at the kind invitation of Mr Alireza Mehrani, the President of Adib Astronomical Society whom  I  met in our last year fabulous 99 Leonids trip in  Jordan. Somewhere in late April we started e-mail correspondence on the coming trip and I expressed my intention to come to Iran.  More e-mails as the July drew closer - as I started to plan for my trip, booking air tickets, reading up Lonely Planet Guide on Iran ( the only guide book available on Iran!) and other travel arrangement.  I soon found out there are no Iranian Embassy in Singapore, the nearest Iran Embassy is in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  I took a flight up just two days before my departure and  pleaded with the official  to have my visa ready on the same day.  Finally the day come. The mid-night flight to Tehran is via Dubai ( with 1 hr stop over in Colombo, Sri Lanka) for 9 hrs and 2 more hours from Dubai to Tehran. It was an uneventful flight and I do not have a window seat either. The air port in Tehran look 'modern' and I go my luggage without too long a wait and 'sailed' through custom with ease. I was glad to see the familiar face of Alireza waiting patiently outside.

   Day 1- 7/21/2000 Friday Tehran - I met up with Daniel Fischer, Yael and Fransco in Esteghlal  Grand Hotel. To kill time before our next the flight out to Esfahan, we visited two nearby museums- Museum of Coins and Museum of Contemporary Art. It is  amazing to find two identical face-value coins with physical weight differences of less than 1 gm!  We later flew to Esfahan on a twin-engine Fokker jet.   We checked into the  magnificent Abashi Hotel (later I found that it was part of the eastern wing of Chaharbagh School ) with a magnificent blue Dome of the Theological School. That night we had our dinner in the garden 'under the sky' with fountains and soothing background music ? Before I retired to bed, I attempted to locate S4 out of 2nd-storey hotel window with my 7 x 50 binoculars. After a quick star-hopping using the already 'tail-up' Ursa Major and in spite of  the glow from city light,  I kind of suspect I saw the comet - a slight smear with a stellar-like nucleus and a upward pointing faint tail. The 'faintest' binocular comet I have even seen.

    Day 2 -7/22/2000 Saturday Esfahan- Have early breakfast  and heading for Convention centre  to meet up with the Major of Esfahan. After a quick 'tour' through the Astro exhibition put up by local astro-clubs we were later ferried back to  Abashi Hotel for the Official Opening Ceremony. Just like in Jordan the opening ceremony involved the playing of National Anthem , Praying  and various speeches. So much for the formality. 
    In the early afternoon Jamshids ( another of the Jordan 99 participants)  took us for a walk to the nearby famous bridges across Zayande River in hot 35C but low humidity sun. Our elevation 1,500 m above sea-level according to my Casio triple-sensor watch. It is Summer now and the water level is very low.  Workers wading in the water, clearing the water plants that choked the waterway. Right in the middle of the river there is a water fountain shooting  water 40-60 meters in the air. On our return path via another bridge, I saw jets of waters shooting 45 degree into the river beds - perhaps acting as  man-make giant 'humidifier' for cooling the atmosphere? Despite the apparent drought conditions, nearby flower beds and trees were well - watered ( sprinklers) system . Roads were tree-lined ( despite my asking, no one seems to be able to say for sure what species of trees were they) with tree planted strategic placed in the swallow open drainage system!

Later in the afternoon we visited some monuments in Iman Square - claimed to be the second largest square after Tienanmen Square and the nearby bazaar. The square is famous for its Blue-tilt dome. If you look closely around the square you will probably notice the whole square can be water-filled to transform into a large water way with fountains. Then you will see a reflection of the whole square with blue sky... The acoustic effect of the perfect dome of the mosque is amazing. By stepping hard onto the stone floor directly under the dome , a clear but delayed echo is heard. A rough estimate of the height of the dome using speed of sound gave 75 metres.  ( ~half of second =>150/2 =75 meter height?) Meanwhile on the nearby bazaar you can find all sort of things on sale there. From inside the bazaar you can see small circular holes open through the ceiling of the brick vault structure for ventilation and I was told the place is cool during summer and warm in winter. (In Tehran winter can be harsh -6 Celsius) Water was sprinkled on the floor to keep it moist and cool. You would think the narrow passage is for pedestrian only but I saw motorcycles and even cars inside! This is the first stop for the 'foreign' participants to pick up their souvenir ( e.g chess-sets, pencil boxes, trinkets, necklaces etc.) and start to consume their thick wads of Rials. We stop for a ice-cream break. A group of young girls gathered around foreign participants asking questions and getting their autobiography signed ( with e-mail address request) - a common 'phenomena' according to Lone Planet Guide. [ up till now I have not received any e-mail from the various autograph I signed ].
   In the evening we had our dinner in the beautiful fountain/flower gardens of the Abashi hotel compound. While waiting to be served , I noticed a 'intruder' not far from Arcturus ( alpha Bootes) and soon realized it was an iridium flare, flaring to a whopping MINUS 9 magnitude - my first oversea Bright Flare. In reflex I quickly pointed out to Daniel standing nearby and mentally take noted the time and position of the flare for post identification[ turn out to be a south-bound Iridium #15]

Day 3-7/23/2000 Sunday

Morning speeches were delivered by Douglas/Alan/Charles and Bruce at Abashi Hotel. Douglas dazzled the crowd with his video-playback of 'sun-grazers' while Charles went through methodology of visual magnitude estimation of comets. Alan went through different slides images of the comet which bore his name and Bruce - a former NASA astronaut shared with us the many missions. He also showed us man-made object visible from space : circular irrigation plots of land in Saudi, pyramids in nearby Egypt and not forgetting the famous space-walk image of him suspending in space.
In the afternoon we visited James Mosque where we saw stucco work influenced by Mongol period. And witnessed portions of the mosque damaged by the Iraq bombing. We also visited Chehel Sotoun Palace with its marvelous fresco of battle scene in the afternoon.
In evening public speech - Charles Morris worked through his favorite top ten comets* with the involvement of participants. When he asked the audience for total number of comets seen , not many show of hands were seen when the number increase from one to three, apparently due to the relatively young age of audiences. In a slide on Ursa Major, eager audience wanted to know where was S4 w.r.t to Ursa Major. In Charles list - Comet Hyakutake ranked first. I couldn't agree more as Hyakutake indeed put on a fine display in Singapore sky - it was high up and was visible for many nights. I was following its progress from Scorpion ( incidently not 'far' from where Halley was in 86) to Arcturus.

 Comet Linear 1999/S4 . Perhaps with Charles talk still fresh in our mind, the group decided it was never the better night to go out and look for S4. we headed back to the hotel ( for those who choose not to follow) and skip our dinner and headed out to a dark spot one hour drive NW of the city . The van pulled off the highway and the local group set up the Meade 12" SCT. It was already past eleven o'clock with comet 15-20 degree above the horizon. Despite the occassional blinding head-lights from passing vehicles, the sky was pretty clear( with milky way plainly visible). Ursa Major stood majestic with its tail up and I lose no time to locate the Comet S4 using my charts. S4 is easily picked up my 7 x 50s binoculars and the tiny straight-up tail was apparent. To confirm my sighting I asked another participants to describe the star fields. Meanwhile and Alireza called me to take a peep through the 12". Allan and Charles were busy doing their own estimation. Two or three meteors streaked through the clear sky. The dynamics of the burn-out trails had far more interesting view than the light smear from S4. Oh well. I also took the opportunity to look at Scorpion - M4 and pointed out to others the rich NGC6234s. Pick up Andromeda and the various globular nebulae in the rich Sagittarius region. Just before mid-night we called quit.
By the time we reached the hotel, it was already well passed mid-night. Luckily food are still available. We ordered sandwiches, soft texture ice-creams and washed down with Zam Zam Coke (Iranian answer to Coke).
Day 4 -7/24/2000 Monday- Morning - Two technical speeches were delivered by Eberhard Riedel and Daniel Fischer and Herman . Riedel video playback of the various lunar grazing occultation fascinated me and Daniel presentation on Meteor Storm and poster display brought back my sweet memories of Al-Azraq Camp in Jordan. Herman shared with us his fantastic slides of comets taken using simple set up - tripods and camera.

In the afternoon we visited more historical bridges - grandeur bridge than the one we saw in earlier day. In Esafahan bridges served more than just a means for crossing the river. In late afternoon, you can find the place crowded with people - sitting on the raised steps, enjoying sight and sound of the rushing water. There are also tea-house situated under the bridge. We later visited the Hasht Behesht Palace.
    In the evening, Yeal and Francesco gave a marvelous presentation on solar system. We headed back to the Abashi hotel to had the final ceremony of the scientific section of the gathering. At the closing ceremony the participants were presented with a printed tablecloth and a Big coffee-table book on Esfahan courtesy of Esefahan Municipal Dept. ( the book proved to be a very valuable aid for identification of the various names of the mosques and Palaces).

Day 5-7/25/2000 Tuesday Morning is free. Woke early for my breakfast and change some Rial at the hotel. ( 1 US$= $8000 Rial). Afternoon we visited Vank Cathedral with its majestic wall mural depicting scenes from Old/New Testament ( no photography allowed inside) Shaking Minarets, Fire Temple, and one of the historical houses in the city. We had another peek at Linear S4 at Chadegan.- a resort nested in the mountains. After off-loading our baggage some of us heading to a nearby place to have another view of the S4. It is not exactly the darkest site but we manage to view the Ursa Major OK. Allan brought along his C8 and Charles with his Fujinon 7x80s?. S4 were easily found again in my 7x 50s binoculars. While the rest were looking at the Comet, I again noticed another bright -8 magnitude Iridium flare not far from Alpha Bootes again. [ Iridium #17]. The group went back and have dinners.
Day 6- 7/26/2000 Wednesday - We departed for Khansar and have a boat ride on a lake. (dam-up river) It is amazing to see so much fresh water right in the middle of nowhere. Very little water-spots are available and swimming was prohibited around the lake ( someone joking say may be it is allowed in the lake). In the afternoon we returning to Esfahan and departure for Shiraz - the gateway for the ruins of Persepolis.

Day 7- 7/27/2000  Thursday July 27 at Homa Hotel, Shiraz The group woke up early at 7:30 and after a quick breakfast left for a 40 minutes bus ride to Persepolis and zoraster - fire temple and nearby tomb.  In the evening we visited the Tomb of the Great Poet Saadi. There is a spring running through with crystal clear water and teem with many fishes.
Day 8-7/28/2000 Friday - Morning visiting some gardens and a Sacred Shrine before we flew back to o Tehran at noon. 
After a hastily said good-bye our US friends hopped onto another van that ferry them to a rest house while waiting for their flights back to US. The same night Alireza came to say good bye to the remaining four of us as he needed to be back at Esfahan . Ali and the other two person(s) will be left to take care of us ..
We checked back into Esteghlal Grand Hotel. This time we had a high floor - the 14th storey. At night with nothing to do and a poor light polluted sky, I attempted a few twenty seconds shots in ASA200. 
Day9-7 /29/2000 Saturday. : Departure to the home countries
    Visited Museum of Arts - where we were brief the art of making the colorful boxes. The design/patterns are NOT painted on but were sectioned from composite bundle of camel bones, metal strips etc. Later we visiting Shah's several palaces : viewed his personal collections of rocks and minerals, his gifts from the other world leaders and his costumes. I did my last minute souvenir shopping - picking up a pencil box or "Qalamdan" and small boxes. We had our lunch in an interesting restaurant. My kebab came served with different vegetable stuffed into a green pepper. We also visited another museum of the animals at the out-shirts of the city. We also had the opportunity to visited the late Ayotallah's place and witnessed a group of visiting girls gathered to listen to his teaching. For keepsake I picked up a Chinese Edition of his ideology and surprised to find the translator was an Iranian (instead of a Chinese looking name) and the translation is in perfect Chinese.

Tehran 'famous' traffic - I always marvel at the skill of the drivers who seem to know how to weave in and out without getting into each others way. Horns are not commonly used. You can see everyone convene at the cross-roads just inches away from collisions before one party decided to let the the other to drive pass. Motorcycles there sit three-or even four! ( and helmets are not required). Crossing a street is another challenging act. Luckily our 'guides' shepherd us ,and I always cross the street with herd of others - safety in 'numbers'. Environmental Awareness was evident in the recycling bins ( white/green/red) set up in the main streets. I also saw a large environmental emission bill-board showing the levels of CO, S02 etc in ppb ( all level appears to be below danger zone) despite the largely not unleaded petrol and zillions of vehicles. In the van , I caught a glimpse of the former US Embassy with with ' slogans' painted on the wall. The 'graffiti' looks fresh with recent paints. ( ..elsewhere whether in City or small town I have yet to see any graffiti at all! ). Since we were not told to look out of the van my interpretation is perhaps that is last infamous 'eye-sore' our Iranian friends wanted to see disappear. Back at the hotel- we stayed at the fourteen floor of the Esteghal Grand hotel with a small balcony, with nothing much to do I took the opportunity to do some night tripod photography of the city skyline.

Day10- 7/30/2000 Sunday
 Historical Museum (Prehistoric) - There are numerous displays of stone-age cutting tools, earth-ware, etc Notably mentioned is the salt man***, his skull still with white hair kept in a large bell-jar. Nearby is one of his calf-length leather boot (complete with knee-cap and parts of tibia bone) in Zanjan 3-4 Century AD. Bumped into the Brisbane Aussie guy I met at Iran Embassy back in Kuala Lumpur. He was surprised to find me at the same museum.

National Jewels Museum. Situated at the side of the Central Bank Melli. After surrendered your cameras/bags, and walked down to the basement you will find the Peacock Throne behind a glass wall. Turn right and enter a darken room with heavy menace-looking 2 foot-thick armored door. The numbered Display Cases are guarded by sensor alarm. Once the alarm is tripped ( by sensor) the loud siren will sound and the exit gate will quickly shut. The guide speak fluently English and will go through explaining the background of ALL the display cases. Here you will find the 182 carats diamond: Darya-i-Nur or "Sea of Light " and a precious-stone studded Globe. There are other display of rare yellow and pink diamonds, turquoises, sapphires, ruby, pearl from Persian Gulf ( including one black pearl). Other items include Coronations costumes and swords, dish covers... I have not seen so much precious stones since my last visit to Tower of London 1995 beside the Thames.

Homeward bound  Ali helped me to the crowded Check-in counter. There were still hours before the plane depart. After check-in the luggage I wondered around. There are not much 'shops' but I manage to pick up a coffee table book on Tehran for 260,000 rial and were prepared to take the rest of the rial as keepsake. The Air Bus flew over Esfahan and Shiraz en route to Dubai. At around 11:15 pm local time I was 35,000 ft over Esfahan and was wondering what is Alireza doing this moment directly under me. At Dubai, the McDonald's manager had never seen Rail and he agreed for me to pay my burger in rial! in return for two 10,000 brand new rial. In one of the duty free shop I saw a giant astro-binoculars for sale : Vixen 35 x125s for a listed price of $9,000 Dbi. The flight from Dubai to Singapore was full of homeward-bound Aussies from their holidaying in UK. I sat beside one German doctor starting a new life in Australia. Maybe the French Concorde tragedy was still fresh in his memory - he asked the flight stewardess why there were 'smoke' billowing (actually was condensation) from the air con system.  
    The return non-stop seven hours flight was uneventful. I reached Changi Airport in a gloomy afternoon and was greeted with a blast of hot-humid air that temporary clouded my spectacles - I was home at last - our hot and humid Singapore.
Special Thanks & Acknowledgement& Achievement
I must congratulate Alireza Mehrani and his team together had done a marvelous job amassing such a complex itinerary which involved a AM presentation at Abashi hotel and evening public speech at convention town hall. And coordinating the sightseeing trips in various towns/cities towns involving taking two different domestic flights, land transportation, hotel arrangements, and visa extensions/flight confirmation. On top of these they are flexible enough to accommodate individual request.
And judging from the response from full house participation in public speeches and the close rapport and interactions between foreign and local participants I dare said the objective of the technical exchange was accomplished. Through the speeches and talks the audience were able to enjoyed a wide spectrum of topics from solar/meteor, solar system, comets, space travel.
It is obvious a lot of energies and efforts are put into the exhibition hall from local astronomical clubs. It might be a good idea to have them each presented a talk about their involvement and projects.
In my opinion, the gathering achieved its goal of bring people together to share and exchanged view point. We see for ourselves first hand the eagerness of reaching out.. despite differences in race, language, religion and political background. I hope this first meeting pave the way for more opportunity to have bilateral exchanges in the field of astronomy with - a field as old as the stars itself and Esfahan will in time to come become the 'CENTER' for modern astronomical study in Iran. I am also surprised to find the large number of female participation in astronomy - another example indicating the relative high literacy rate of the female population.
    As Dr Bruce McCandless pointed out - Earth when viewed from Space -there are no boundary visible separating one country from others. We all are inhabitants of the planet called Mother Earth.
The People
During our entire stay in Iran, all the people we met are extremely friendly to us. Even total strangers walk up to me and asked where i came from and wished me a good stay in Iran. One guy in Iman Square was eager to find out whether I knew a certain Singaporean working in the one of the shops there. I have to tell him there are 2.3 million Singaporean and quite likely I do might not know him. Another interesting thing I observe is, if you wave at anybody, it is guarantee that it will be returned immediately. You probably get a blank stare else where.

The weather while we were there - July it is the hottest month( hot and dry) to visit and may be I can blame it on S4's itinerary!
My personal triumph/'achievement': Viewed the much talk-about comet Linear S4 - my sixth comets ( two were southern hemisphere objects during my undergraduate study in Palmerston North, New Zealand - Austins , Bradfield; while the last three were observed from Singapore Sky- Halley, Hyakutake , Hale-Bopp and perhaps Wilson) but visible faint - first light for my Fujinon 7 x 50 s, chanced upon two -8 mag Iridium Flares!! , learnt how to like plain yogurt, tasted tons of kebabs. Saw a persimmon tree in Abashi. [ i remembered my first 'thrill' of seeing an apple tree one cold drizzling wet winter morning - at Auckland, New Zealand 1978 ]( sorry, as a tropical folk, I was fascinated how a temperate fruit tree look like]. I am not much of museum/ mosque goers ( hardly notice how one look like in Malaysia or Singapore with the exception of the golden dome mosque in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei ) but what I saw in Esfahan greatly impressed me and also it is a rare opportunity for us to be inside the Holy Shrine.. and last but not least - we get to know others in person.

Other Info of interest

Credit Cards: ( Diners/ Visa (not popular)).
Currency: US$ is accepted in top-hotels, while rials everywhere?

Food/Drinks: Pizzas, Kebabs/with fluffy short grain rice, eaten with nuns, (rolled with green vegetables e.g. mint, spice) , ice creams, Zam Zam coke, Zurphan, Pepsi.

Char/Tea Drinking Iranian Style : take a sugar cube ( two in a pack), chewed one corner and sipped tea, let the sugar dissolve in tea INSIDE the mouth, swallow tea ( what else).
Hubble Bubble: as in Jordan..smoke a water pipe. In Iran low and broad carpet-lined bench are used for relaxing under shades and while you puff away.

Fruits: Red water melons, honey dew, Shiraz small but sweet grapes, peaches, apricots, apple
Confectionary: Candy, dates etc - Kermani GUS- a soft white chewable sweet( with pistachio nuts.
Souvenir: Persian Carpets- can be expensive (US$200 for a 2'x1 1/2') , Pencil Boxes(40,000), Display Boxes.60,000-1000,000 rial.

Map: Pick up a Map by Gita Shenassi for 20,000 rial. I bought this one so that I can get a long / lat estimate for Chadegan for my Iridium sighting confirmation. However Heavens-above huge database included this town.

Power Supply: 240, wall socket - two pin (round)** for charging your handy-cam batteries. Some hotels TV had RCA video IN, audio IN ( to play back on TV screen)

Jordan 1999 ( Leonids Meteor Shower - Storm Level)

Leonids Storm @ Jordan
Pre-storm activities :Lectures, Petra's Khasneh

Always curious about the flight path whenever I fly , so I make sure I get a non-blocking window seat. I tried to figure out the flight path/time by drawing a map on the back of a flight magazine. This time the Airbus took the Greatest Circle path ( up Peninsula Malaysia) and cross the Indian Ocean onto India. We flew over India with a great river in sight and approached the 'horn' of Arabic peninsula, passing over the giant Sand Dunes of Omen. The Airbus landed in a small country Bahrain facing Persian Gulf . The Bahrain International Air Port is situated on a small island with a link to the 'mainland'. Transit was less than one hour and I proceed straight to check-in. We changed to a smaller Air Bus and in two hours time I reached my destination - Amman, Jordan.
A twenty plus of us from various countries ( USA, New Zealand , Ireland, Armenia, Belgium, Syria, Australia, Iran, Iraq, Netherlands, Germany, Palestine, United Arab Emirates ) convened in Amman, Jordan at the invitation of Jordanian Astronomy Society. I was lucky - I approached JAS early October and was quickly added to the guest list as they are in the midst of getting representatives from abroad.

Right : I received a JAS Leonid 99 Plaque from Prince Faisal of The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. This day happened to be King Huessin's birthday. We visited the Town Hall and were shown photos in memory of him. The love exhibited by his citizens were evident from the constant throngs to the galleries. I was touched. Later we had a sumptuous Jordanian feast - 'mansaf' - "lambs- and- rice" served western style.
 
We spent the first few days attending conferences. High light include talks on Leonids dust trails, the use of narrow beam radar in meteor detection ( down to magnitude 15!), shown slides of Germany's 98 Leonids trip to Mongolia, Netherlands Leonids trip to South Korea and historic Leonids events in the Arab world. We also visited the Al al-Bayt University 16" SCT and a quick tour of the geological department/lab.
For the first few days we spent some interesting hours touring the Roman- ruins in Jarash and have a whole day trekking in the famous red-rose sandstone ruins in Petra. Visiting Jordan without seeing Petra is like visiting Egypt minus a visit to the Great Pyramids. The beauty of Khasneh is beyond description - the facade stand 130 feet and 92 feet wide carved entirely from the sandstone!


To reach this marvelous sight we have to walk 1.5 Km through a narrow gorge - flanked by 100 meters sandstone called the Siq. After a 1.5 Km walk through the Siq, suddenly through the 'slit' you see a glimpse of the Khazneh - the treasurer. The whole splendor of the Khazneh appear in front of you. You must give credit to the farsightedness of the ancient builder for intentional placing the Khazeh at the strategic end of the Siq.
Petra is famous for its polychrome color sandstone. The best examples I came across are as follow:

Salmon-like rock

Ceiling of the chamber - polychrome rocks!

Elephant.

On Nov16 99 we left our comfortable hotels and headed for a desert camp in Al-Azraq . We were assigned two to a bunker. The camp is a isolated place ( need a generator for electricity and water had to be transport here) in the middle of very flat desert plain. Nearby are two Bedouins tents with sheep and single hump camels. We visited one of the tent. Most tent is black made of from black sheep and is surprising airy inside despite the hot outside sun. We were treated to the Arabic coffee ( spice flavor) in small porcelain cup. You have to shake the cup from side to side to indicate you have enough coffee else you will serve continuously! We also had tea (very sweetened) served in small glasses.

Everyone get excited on the first night. Mattress were laid out on sandy ground, propped against chairs. Owners jealously guarding their territories. It was a quiet first night. There were few Leonids, I could sense a atmosphere of 'anxiety' and 'tense' as the quiet crowd continued their 10-15 minutes exposure.( Registering over dense star trails without any meteor trails.) Sand were everywhere and changing film is best avoided in the dark ( It will be disastrous should the film canister accidentally dropped onto the sandy ground).

Nov17/18. I decided to move away from the 'maddening' crowd, I set up my 4 cameras and one low lux video some distance away so that no one will be bothered when my Hi-8 video system spill some light. I spend the first half hours trying out my video system - video taping the M45 - Pleiades's and the 'Hyades'. Moon set around 12:30 am and the real show begin. As the radiant point was climbing higher and higher meteors started to appear and my first attempt to do a raw count was interrupted by a enthusiastic observer who came over and had a little chat with me. The increase of the meteor arrival rate were evident around 2:30am. The sky literally opened up and let out streams of meteors around 3:50am. (The predicted peak is 4:07am) There were meteors everywhere. The typical color is greenish yellow and terminal red only detectable in films.

I have seen 2-3 meteors per second! (others claim to see up to 7 meteors per second!). At peaks simultaneous 'star' burst of meteors radiated from Leo's Sickle and parallel bright meteors leaving yellowish,smokey wakes. The most unusual meteors for me is right inside the sickle - a short 'fat' small arc with fuzzy (yellowish sparkle). I presume this is the result of near 'head-on' meteor. When a bright meteor left a eerie greenish gray curtain like train - I was prepared. I swung my FM10 towards this and fired two shots. A blow-up on one of this shot revealed 'jets like' luminous streams. Three faint meteors nearby leaving behind horizontal greenish streaks. Sporadic seems to contribute little - the most interesting seen are two isolated incidents of pure white sporadic which looked 'curved'. Another is a head on by-pass of one Leonid and a SPO. Most of the time sporadic seems to have taken the back seats. The shouting from the group might have woken our Bedouins neighbor ( later we were told they too was witnessing the unusual celestial downpour). The high numbers of meteors struck me. Suddenly I realized that I was in the middle of a STORM LEVEL Outburst ! I shivered in excitement ( or was it the less than 5 degree C desert air?) and uttered 'Oh my God' in a strangest - ' possessed like' voice I did not recognise my own.
Around 4:20 local time , the downpours had reduced in strength but still meteors are falling 'softly' around the horizon. The crowds by now were so used to seeing meteors that they watch in silence, you can hear the synchronous 'Aaaah' and 'Ooooh when bright meteors appeared. Soon day light arrived. We were also treated to one or two deep red meteors in the horizon.
Then it was over. The predicted timing is dead CORRECT, the predicted place is CORRECT, the predicted ZHR is.. well - we have too many! ( No complaints).
Nov 18/19 - Everyone seems to be fairly contented with last night hauls. Most just sat around a bonfire warming themselves against the cold desert air. Not much observations were conducted on Nov. 19 and I had chosen to retire to bed early full dressed. I woke up around 3:30 am and began my solitary watch while others sleep.

Its me and the clear cold night sky. Leonid rate were low ( 1 or 2 per 15 minutes) and there were no unusual activities else I will kick the doors and woke up the rest.

We left the camp and headed back to our hotel in Amman. On the way we visited a nature reserve and two desert castles.

The next day we visited the world lowest point on earth - the DEAD sea, my Casio triple sensor watch correctly detecting a MINUS 400 ( correction factor of 45)  meters below sea level. Others enjoyed themselves with mud all over their bodies.

 Back in the Grand Palace hotel, some headed for the nearest Internet Cafe to find what others have seen and to upload results to IMO and others gathered newspapers and watched TV news of our 'Leonids Encounter ' in Al-Azreq desert camp. We were famous the world over! Sony camcorder owners gathered together and using my TRV99E as a master recorder we made copies of our tapes. (European models had their video in recording DISABLED!). Films were developed and the best include a 20 mm shots showing 70+ meteors. (The record still stay). We chat late into the night. Over the week end one by one leaves for home. I was one of the last and I left on Monday Nov 22 after spending an incredible 10 days in Jordan.

In summary I have exceeded all my personal objectives of this scientific conference / expedition - Witnessed the great Leonids Meteor storm, seen how radio meteors and intensifier imaging were conducted, met the scientists and researchers, experienced Jordan's fabulous rose stone Petra city, smoked ( just a few puff) of Arabic water pipe, visited the lowest spot on earth Dead Sea, recorded some meteors on both video/film. The most important is get to know others around the globe. Friendships were forged and I personally experienced the great hospitality shown by the host - JAS members from Jordan who ran 'an extra mile' to ensure we are comfortable and our needs attended to. The 1999 Jordanian Leonid Meteors Conference is a Complete SUCCESS!

A group foto at Petra. Me heavily armed with video cameras, film camera and digital point and shoot.