Photo: Valentin Grigore
The short variant of an experimental collective astrodrama,
based on extracts from the Romanian national electronic list of astronomy
(entitled “SARM”)
in November 2001.
Photo: Calin Niculae
The initial variant was first played during an astropoetry gala at
“Admiral Vasile Urseanu” Bucharest Municipal Observatory
in January 2002,
and first published in
Romanian Contemporary Astropoetry and Guests 2002.
Photo: Calin Niculae
MOTTO
Yes indeed.
The Lion showed his claws!
-Ovidiu Vaduvescu-
Photo: Stefan Berinde
HAIKU
*
Sky Lion -
nerves of light over
November melancholy
-Andrei Dorian Gheorghe (Bucharest)-
*
Manes of lions
through jungles of air -
we are breathing light.
-Adrian Sima (Bucharest)-
Photo: Valentin Grigore
AFTER THE FIRST NIGHT, NOVEMBER 16/17
*
Last night I had an observational time of 3.8 hours.
The Leonid activity was very modest: I saw only 13 meteors.
Only one was more spectacular: -2.5 magnitude, with a very bright trail.
Another spectacular meteor was a -2.5 Sporadic, which appeared
very close to the horizon, with a very small speed and a broad train.
-Emil Neata (Craiova)-
*
The first clear night after tens of cloudy days.
A very cold night, but good sky conditions.
A low Leonid activity, but some nice Taurids.
All my thoughts fly to that night of 1998 November 17/18,
when I saw a fantastic show of Leonid fireballs.
-Valentin Grigore (Targoviste)-
*
Last night it was cloudy in Bacau,
but the prognosis is good for today.
Have a nice “Leonidness”!
-Dan Mitrut (Bacau)-
Photo: Valentin Grigore
AFTER THE SECOND NIGHT, NOVEMBER 17/18
*
We had a very pleasant “Leonidness”.
A lot of nice meteors in the second part of the night.
Wonderful.
Many of them between 0 and -3 magnitude, a few of -5 and -6, and one of -8.
I saw 2 Leonids like two specks, plus a sinuous Taurid and a sinuous Leonid.
I also saw a Leonid with a strange trajectory, changing its final direction,
a meteor with an angle of 120 degrees.
-Alexandru Conu (Alexandria)-
*
I was on the roof of the Physics Faculty in Magurele, near Bucharest,
with a few fellows and two “female dancers”.
About 50 Leonids in 2 hours.
A -3 yellow fireball in the beginning of the evening.
Regrettably, the members of SARM and Astroclub Bucharest
have demonstrated that they are great amateurs of astronomy,
saying they come 30, but coming only 5 (FIVE).
-Adrian Bruno Sonka (Bucharest)-
*
Good news.
It was a magnificent “Leonidness”, the most beautiful show I have ever watched.
Did you see the -5 Taurid fireball?
Or the -5 Sporadic at 0:00?
I wrote an artistic series about the last Leonid night,
being happy,
with my blood seething because of the traces of Leonid light …
Signed:
the Leonid shadow on Earth.
-Dan Mitrut (Bacau)-
Photo: Dan Mitrut
*
Last night it was superb.
I made visual observations in Magurele, on a 5.7 limit magnitude.
We began a little before midnight,
and a -5 Taurid fireball melted in the Great Chariot.
Afterwards, until 2:00, we saw only Sporadics and Taurids,
and not too many Leonids,
but after 2:00 THEY started!
Too few meteors over 3 magnitude.
Most of them between 0 and -3.
And a few fireballs.
The strongest phenomenon was something like a lightning.
A short and intense light, like an explosion.
I don’t know if it was a meteor, because it hadn’t any tail.
Returned home in Bucharest, before sunrise,
I still watched from my balcony.
In a half of hour, I saw another Leonid of -1 magnitude, and,
when the daylight appeared (only Vega and Arcturus remaining visible),
an incredible fireball started over the blocks of flats:
a -10 fireball!
Its brightness made me think of the Moon.
It was 6:03 Romanian Time (4:03 Universal Time).
I cannot describe my immense joy when I saw it.
An excellent “Leonidness”.
-Iulian Olaru (Bucharest)-
*
An extraordinary night.
In over 4 hours, I saw 166 spectacular Leonids, with persistent trains
(one of them lasting over 30 seconds) and small magnitudes.
2 of them had multiple (2 or 3) firings.
Even after 6:30 a.m., when the sky was lightened by the Sun,
I saw 5 Leonids…
I also saw 4 Alpha Monocerotids.
Totally, I saw 219 meteors.
-Emil Neata (Craiova)-
*
Good sky conditions again. Very cold.
Active Taurids,
and a superb -4 North Taurid fireball with 4-5 fragmentations,
and a colour transformation from green into blue and into yellow finally.
A very good night and a nice Leonid activity, in brief waves,
sometimes 4-5/minute, or 2-3/second.
32 coloured fireballs, 1 of -7 magnitude, 5 of -6,
and the greatest had -10 in the morning.
Many spectacular trains of tens of minutes.
Good images with Leonids in the zodiacal light.
And Leonids in daylight, when no star was visible.
-Valentin Grigore (Targoviste)-
Photo: Valentin Grigore
AFTER THE THIRD NIGHT, NOVEMBER 18/19
*
I made observations with two fellows on 17/18, but I was alone on 18/19.
It was a real show.
We began around 2:00 a.m. after we had lost ourselves in a forest.
We saw meteors after meteors, and stopped in a glade,
admiring the Leonids till 6:00.
We saw about 130-150 meteors, and I noted 102 meteors
(especially of 0, -1 and -2) during 3.5 hours on a limit magnitude of 5.7.
The most spectacular fireball passed at 5:31:
blue-greenish, -6 magnitude, and a train of over 1 minute.
On 18/19, alone, I saw a good activity till 1:30 a.m.,
when the fog appeared.
The surprise came at 0:30: a greenish fireball (the greatest in my life)
of -12 magnitude, crossing the sky for 90-100 degrees,
with 2 explosions and a train of 5 minutes…
and I remained with my mouth open for 20 minutes.
-Raul Truta (Targu Mures)-
*
I’m happy.
It’s all I can say.
I saw the greatest fireball of the last night.
I just woke up and opened the windows, waiting for about 2 minutes,
and I was hit by the final phase of that fireball in Pegasus.
I never saw a brighter fireball.
I remained near the window till 5 o’clock, seeing 5 other nice meteors.
Today I was very tired at the school, after 3 nights of watch.
My luck was that 2 teachers understood me, leaving me to sleep.
Afterwards I went to a photo studio to see my developed film.
And I remarked not 1,
but my first 3 meteors caught photographically.
I began to jump in the studio.
My host was not surprised because he knew I am crazy.
I wish you to love the stars at least as much as I love them.
-Alexandru Conu (Alexandria)-
Photo: Alexandru Conu
*
Last night, an activity full of surprises.
With their radiant just raised, the Leonids were crossing the sky.
I remarked red nuances and long traces (even for those of +2 magnitude).
I started the observations around 23:00, and after about 20 minutes,
the Leonids began to fly from anywhere, long of over 30 degrees.
It was a moment, in the north, when I counted 7 meteors/minute.
After midnight, the most beautiful meteor in my life:
starting with a -3 magnitude from the half of the distance between
the radiant and Cassiopeia,
going about 30 degrees and growing in intensity,
it made a -2 outburst and disappeared for a moment,
but suddenly caught an unconceivable blue-green fire.
Its shadow grew on Earth, and I evaluated it at -12 magnitude,
with a last outburst of -5.
It passed about 100 degrees.
Its tail like a stick became compact,
lasting over 10 minutes and melting in Pegasus.
I also saw other fireballs,
but I have remained so marked by that blue explosion of light,
that today I have been good for nothing, going exhausted on the streets.
When I close my eyes, I see the bright roar of the Lion.
Have a good rest, all of you frosted by the Leonid nights,
with your eyes amazed by such a light.
-Dan Mitrut (Bacau)-
Photo: Dan Mitrut
*
Another superb night, even if the sky was not so clear.
The activity was good, with some eruptions.
The most remarkable event was visible between 23:00 and 0:30,
at the rise of the radiant.
Those long expected meteors, named “earthgrazers”,
which appear when the radiant is very low to the horizon line,
under 15 degrees.
It was fantastic. I saw hundreds of thousands of meteors in my life,
but only 2 or 3 like those ones, and none of them so special.
Last night I remained without words,
only amazement to those “endless” meteors.
The first Leonid: -0.5 magnitude and about 60 degrees.
Afterwards a series of double meteors.
A -1 red meteor was extraordinary, superlong,
120-130 degrees (!!!) in 7 seconds.
I think there were 10 other meteors of 80-100 degrees.
The king of the night was a -12 green fireball, at 00:30,
which strongly lightened the sky to the northwest and the Earth,
with a train of a few minutes, visible through the thin clouds.
Back in my town, during sunrise,
I saw at 6:35 the last apparition in the skylight without stars:
a blue fireball.
-Valentin Grigore (Targoviste)-
Photo: Valentin Grigore
ASTROPOETICAL CONCLUSIONS
*
Sounds of November.
The claw of the Lion,
projected to the wild sky,
cuts up the stars…
Kernels of stone
come from the heights,
and the horizon
is full of rustling
and burning crucifixes…
-Tina Visarian (Targoviste)-
*
I could use words,
but my words were orbits of light.
I could use ciphers,
but the ciphers were running with over 70 km/s.
My planetary being was crying,
drinking avidly Leonids
for the day when I would be
a -10 fireball,
happiness for your eyes,
Tempel-Tuttle.
-Dan Mitrut (Bacau)-
Photo: Dan Mitrut
POST SCRIPTUM
Hi stellar lovers of meteors!
King Lion was generous this year, giving brilliances of diamond-fireballs,
small and big pearls - green-blue with metallic reflections,
red and orange, yellow…
And silver traces, waving in the high breath of the wind.
Falls of light in gusts, swarming around Orion or the Great Chariot.
I am very glad that many of you tested these wonderful gifts,
and I hope they will call you more to look for
the high experience moments of life.
We were witnesses of a historical event, because we don’t know
how many years will pass until we shall watch something similar.
Or, who knows?
I am glad too that the two spectacular apparitions,
the -10 fireball in the morning of 17/18
and the -12 fireball in the night of 18/19,
were seen from different places in Romania,
separated by hundreds of kilometers.
It is fantastic how we can be connected by the same source
for a few moments.
So, we watched something unique:
the nights when the Lion’s Kingdom showed parts
of the heavenly treasures.
THANKS!!!
-Valentin Grigore-
Photo: Valentin Grigore
LEONID SONG
I have not a time to listen,
I have not a voice to speak…
Living flames catch me up
on edges of horizon.
Stars exorcize my way to the Earth -
a spark of the Sun.
Space runs and rolls white tears of time.
A temptation of flight drowns me
through its whispers.
It seems I am not myself,
an ephemeral rover -
a spark of the Sun.
Unseen worlds look
at me useless
through painful colours.
It is not important
they are brilliant meteors -
a spark of the Sun.
So many fire roads, so many gifts…
There are comets
guarding the heavenly mute gate.
I am the moment that was,
filled with love -
a spark of the Sun.
My sweet caress…
Man -
a spark of the Sun.
-Dan Mitrut-
Dan Mitrut singing the Leonid Song,
Bucharest Municipal Observatory, January 2002
Photo: Calin Niculae
***
Astrodrama coordinator: Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
Design: Florin Stancu
© 2008-2009 SARM
(Romanian Society for Meteors and Astronomy)