Thousands of people worldwide braved cold nights and lost sleep this weekend to watch the arrival of the 2000 Leonids meteor shower. Interest in this year's Leonids was heightened by predictions of a possible meteor storm, an extreme form of meteor shower that for a time lights up the skies with dozens or even hundreds of meteors per minute.

The Leonids meteor shower occurs in mid November of each year, peaking on the night of November 17. But every 33 years or so the normally mild Leonids can become a fierce meteor storm, and a number of planetary astronomers had predicted that this year might yield a spectacular display.

So were the predictions correct? Visual and radio observations confirmed a peak of activity along the western Atlantic. If weather had been clearer in more places and if a NASA balloon mission to study the Leonids had not been terminated early perhaps even higher activity might have been confirmed.

So far, reports indicate that Leonids 2000 was a "shower" and failed to qualify as a "storm" -- that would take 2,000 meteors an hour.

But even now, astronomers who formulated this year's predictions are at work predicting the 2001 Leonids, which some models predict may have even stronger activity. Stay tuned.

Eyes and ears to the sky

In light of the predictions for a possible storm, amateur and professional observers made preparations long in advance for observing this year's Leonids. Observers planned to use not only to photographic cameras, but radio telescopes and a high-flying balloon to track, monitor and measure the encounter with the comet's trail.

The balloon was a joint effort between scientists at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and ham operators all over North America -- the latter providing tracking and monitoring assistance for the balloon. It carried aloft devices to try to capture some of the tiny grain-sized meteors before they burn up in the atmosphere, to detect the radio bursts generated by the meteors streaking through the upper atmosphere, and a low-light video camera to photograph the bright trails of high-flying meteors.

But while high-tech probes flew high above and large instruments were trained from the ground, people in every country around the world headed for rural locations armed with nothing more than warm clothes and a comfortable chair. They settled in and waited.

The meteors begin to arrive

Though the peak of the shower was not expected until the night of November 17, a few observers on the night of the 16th and early 17th reported meteors coming from the direction of the constellation Leo, indicating that the Leonids meteor stream was starting to arrive. Nick Martin, a microbiologist and amateur astronomer observing from southwest Scotland, observed a few meteors in the wee hours of the 17th, but mostly saw clouds and rain, something that would plague many observers over the next two days.

On the night of the 17th, as night moved westward the activity seemed to pick up. Near Frankfurt, Germany, 17-year-old Ulrich Beinert set up a camera and tripod on his balcony waiting for the meteors, only to find that as dusk fell clouds covered the sky. Towards midnight the sky cleared and several bright meteors were seen, but after 2 a.m. the clouds moved in again, ending the night's work with not a single meteor caught on film.

For Nick Martin in Scotland, the night of the 17th started out well, with weather appearing to clear. But as the night wore on he and a friend watched the clouds thicken. At 2:30 a.m. the with the sky overcast, he concluded the night's observations, succinctly reporting that "our initial optimism has faded."

Activity picks up

On the east coast of the Americas, as midnight arrived, the activity started to rise. Though clouds often obscured the view, observers along the Atlantic seaboard of the United States, Canada and as far south as Brazil reported meteor rates steadily rising, some reporting rates of more than 100 per hour.

For Michael Boschat in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the weather was not a complete impediment. Though he was able to photograph some meteors from his home, he observed many more with his home-built radio telescope, at the peak recording more than 200 in one hour. Another amateur radio astronomer, Patrick Wood in Hinesville, Georgia, reported a similar peak in radio activity.

Further west, activity was more subdued and weather again intruded. In eastern Pennsylvania schoolteacher Tom Orff braved clouds and snow flurries and was rewarded with a 10-minute break in the clouds after midnight, during which he saw one very bright meteor streaking halfway across the sky. Though he had hoped to see more, "if I only see one meteor this year, that was the one to see," reported Orff.

In Arizona the weather was clear, but there was a strange lack of activity. Jennifer Keller of Phoenix took her children and some friends to the small observatory owned by a fellow astronomer, Stan Gorodenski, outside of Prescott, Arizona, hoping that the rural dark skies would allow them to see some meteors. Over several hours they did not see a single Leonid, but the children did enjoy some conventional stargazing despite the frigid temperatures.

Further south near Maricopa, Arizona, the paucity of Leonids was likewise evident. Steve Dodder and his wife Rosie saw less than three dozen Leonids, unusually low even for a normal year. Steve wondered if the bright Moon might have made it more it impossible to see the faint meteors that make up much of the Leonids stream.

The view from above

Even NASA's high-tech weather balloon encountered problems. It launched on schedule from Huntsville, Alabama, just after midnight on the morning of the 18th, scheduled to rise to 100,000 feet (30,480 meters). Before it reached half that altitude it started to drift toward commercial air traffic. In the interest of safety its controllers triggered a device that popped the balloon. It came down outside of Chatsworth, Georgia; its instrument package returned safely to Earth by parachute, perhaps to fly again next year.