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Originally Posted by fringe_dweller
great reports guys! cheers!  
swannies, meteor showers from under dark country skies vs suburban skies are chalk and cheese imo - even the diff in numbers visible from a reasonable dark country sky to a more remote pristine dark sky (ie very little or zero light domes interference) are seemingly out of proportion to me to the minor LM increase, the bright ones you see in the city are even brighter in the country (ie glowing trains are more noticeable and longer lasting ect.) and mag +4 ,5, 6 and 7 meteors seem like fireballs  hehe not to mention your dark adaption is probably that much better. its like as dark as an immersion tank out there as you know.
And one thing we are rich in here in SA, would have to be the plentiful very dark skies (and generally clearer northern sa skies) within easy drive/reach imo.
re: the sonic boom with 2001 leonids morning, dont forget the meteors only come as low as 70 klm in altitude at best! typically, and the speed of sound is 344 m/s so it would take like, very roughly, @ ~3 secs per klm, 3.5 mins to reach your ears from directly overhead, not to mention the longer it would take if it was offset from your location ie probably 6 min delay for most. EDIT: personally, I have never heard a sonic boom from a meteor, and I have been going out for showers since 1997, and general observing since late '94, but I have heard an 'electrophonic' meteor, but thats a different mechanism - radio waves, and its instantaneous.
I'm surprised you didnt enjoy the '98 leonids even from adelaide, you must of missed the main morning (17th local time), it was raining fireballs from midnight till 2 am 
I concur houghy, around 3 am, when the radiant cleared the horizon, was when the action started for us too. I have given up on meteor photography (has to be allsky stuff like Bert does) unless there is a meteor storm on, its just not worth it mebbe, the pesky little camera shy so and so's  |
I took over 108 2 minute shots with 20 seconds between each one to download the image. not a single one