The Leonids Observation Project by High-School Students all over the World

Extract

We organized the Leonids observing network that comprised of 276 observation teams consisting of about 3,000 senior high-school students in Japan on Nov. 17 1998. We counted the visible meteors with our naked eyes. It was a simple method, but the many data enabled us to discuss the structure of the dust trail. However, the base-line is so short that we could not discuss the structure in full detail. In 1999, we organized a worldwide network of senior high-school students. The network is comprised of 307 teams from 23 countries. The base-line of our new project is the size of the Earth. We succeeded in making 20 hours continuous observations with this network. One of the observational teams in Tanzania encountered the Leonid meteor storm. We report on the scientific results and the educational aspects of these projects. (Web site: www.leonids.net/) (Leonids ‘98-’99 staff – co-authors – are A. Miyashita, M. Okyudo, H. Agata, T. Mizuno, T. Hamane K. Watanabe of Japan, C. Pennypaker, A. Gould, K. McCarron, G. Reagan and K. Meredith, of the U.S.A.)