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Leonid Meteor Shower

Posted by Hemos on from the very-nice dept.

Tristan Bennett writes "It looks as though those in Australia and America are in for a real treat. During the week before and after November 18, the Earth will pass through the trail of comet Tempel-Tuttle and be pelted with hail of sand-sized material. This year is supposed to be special, with astronomers predicting anywhere from 800 (North America) - 8,000 (Australia) meteors visible per hour at the storm's peak -- on November 18th."

30 of 86 comments (clear)

  1. Nice by }{@wkmooN · · Score: 4, Offtopic

    but I wonder if there's enough for me to wish for peace on Earth...

  2. How visible will it be? by MiTEG · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I wonder how visible these will be from urban areas- light pollution is getting to be a huge problem because of urban sprawl. I know from most of the Silicon Valley I can make out very few stars in the night sky even on a clear night.

    --
    The future isn't what it used to be.
    1. Re:How visible will it be? by instinctdesign · · Score: 2

      I would bet next to none, I live in the center of a city and I can't see any stars at all. Looks like I'll be missing this one, perhaps space.com or someone will have some shots up for those of us in similar situations.

      --
      forma3
    2. Re:How visible will it be? by suss_dragon · · Score: 3, Informative
      Normally I'd say you won't be seeing much at all but during last year's Leonids I saw plenty while driving on the highway, trying to escape clouded skies. Now, keep in mind that I live in Belgium and that our highways are flooded with lampposts... :)

      The most important thing with meteor observations is a good view at as much of the sky as possible. Thus you need dark skies and as few obstacles (trees, buildings, hills,...) as possible.

      Check the website of the International Meteor Organisation for more info!

      Benny

  3. Also called a makeoutfest by itsnotme · · Score: 4, Funny

    Also about say, 20k horny couples will take this as a romantic moment to go outside and peruse romantic interests, aka necking. Headlines in the newspapers will read: World record broken for numbers of couples necking simultaneously!

    But seriously, should be a cool event to watch for the people that'll get hte best views of it.. altho I'd have the people with movies like Deep Impact refrain from watching it during the event ;-)

    On the other hand, movie theaters that base their movies on horror flicks should defnitedly show movies with meteoric impacts..

    Moderator rating: Funny=+1 Insightful=+1 Bullshit=+1

  4. Re:I am not advocating drug use, btw by Skapare · · Score: 2

    The LSD is for decoration, right?

    --
    now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
  5. American-Metric Wars (meteors per hour) by npongratz · · Score: 5, Funny

    This year is supposed to be special, with astronomers predicting anywhere from 800 (North America) - 8,000 (Australia) meteors visible per hour...

    Oh, so in other words, the conversion rate between American and metric is 10 metric units for each American unit. ;-)

  6. When, Where, and How by bucklesl · · Score: 5, Informative
    How about some basic info on where to watch, eh?

    Gleened from Space.com

    For North American skywatchers, Earth will enter the heavier parts of the stream at about 11 p.m. EST on Saturday, Nov. 17. Activity will peak around 5 a.m. Sunday morning, when as many as 13 meteors per minute could be visible, likely for a stretch of time that lasts less than 1 hour. The peak corresponds to 4 a.m. CST, 3 a.m. MST and 2 a.m. PST.

    --
    help fill in hidden movie endings @ End of the Credits
    1. Re:When, Where, and How by rve · · Score: 2

      Full solar eclipses are even more efficient at that

  7. A great show is only a possibility. by pomakis · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I'd like to point out that there's only the possibility of a great show. The Leonids are usually quite unimpressive, and only once every several years does it turn into a meteor storm. It's about time for another storm, but it's hard to predict with certainty. Last year astronomers were saying the same thing. They crossed their fingers and stood out shivering in a dark field in the middle of the night, only to see a very disappointing display.

    I for one am planning on standing out shivering in a dark field in the middle of the night this year to see it (assuming a clear night, of course), but I'm prepared for disappointment.

    1. Re:A great show is only a possibility. by suss · · Score: 2

      They crossed their fingers and stood out shivering in a dark field in the middle of the night, only to see a very disappointing display.

      I doubt it. If they were real astronomers, they'd come prepared, fully clothed, thermos full of cofee/tea and a reclining chair to lie back in. Best way to watch meteor showers. And ofcourse; if it's really cold, don't go out in a field on your own. Take one or more people with you because you wouldn't want to be found the next morning with hypothermia...

  8. Find the best time to watch... by Hal-9001 · · Score: 3, Informative

    ...using the Leonid Flux Estimator.

    --
    "It take 9 months to bear a child, no matter how many women you assign to the job."
    1. Re:Find the best time to watch... by Hal-9001 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Apparently the Leonid Flux Estimator has moved. It's now here. You'll need a Java-capable browser to use it.

      --
      "It take 9 months to bear a child, no matter how many women you assign to the job."
  9. More on Light Pollution by A5WKS24 · · Score: 3, Informative
    8,000 meteors per hour? Good luck. In our modern cities, light pollution is so extreme that we will be lucky to see even a fraction of that number.

    Now would be a good time to revisit the Slashdot story on the Atlas of Worldwide Light Pollution. It really makes you sit up and think about what we are doing to our night skies.

  10. Planning your observing by andrel · · Score: 5, Informative

    You'll want to use XEphem to plan your Leonid observing. It is freely available software for GNU/Linux that produces great printable star charts and much more. If for some reason you can't get XEphem for your OS you might find Heavens Above to be useful.

    1. Re:Planning your observing by redcliffe · · Score: 2, Informative

      Or you can try KStars, for a more modern Ephemeris/star chart program.

      You can download it at http://kstars.sf.net

  11. Beware the Phantoms by Vegan+Pagan · · Score: 3, Flamebait

    Let's just hope there aren't any soul stealers aboard.

  12. Bad publicity and Watching a meteor shower by jesterzog · · Score: 5, Informative

    Woohoo! IAAAA (I Am An Amateur Astronomer). =) Anyway, I have two main things to say. The first is a rant about the media blowing things out of proportion, and the second is some tips on how to look for a meteor shower.

    I hope it is really great this year, but please nobody assume that it's going to happen just because it's in a newspaper or on the news.

    Astronomy's one of those cost-benefit things where 99 out of 100 times there's a warning and you get up at 3 in the morning and nothing happens. The other time you see something and it's either average, or spectacular and a life-long memory.

    In 1966, everyone assumed that the Leonids had died, because they hadn't shown up at all in the 30's. A relatively small number of people went out at the time that they were predicted, and they saw a really awesome display.

    The Leonids were again predicted to be really big in 1999, to the point where CNN was showing Japanese people in downtown Tokyo setting up deck chairs on the roof of office blocks. The whole thing fizzled, and immediately afterwards lots of the editorial media started complaining that nothing had happened. The same thing was predicted again for last year, and nothing really happened on the spectacular scale of what was expected.

    This year, someone else has predicted that it'll happen by using a slightly different system. Like I said I hope it's right. I'll definitely be up in the morning watching with friends from my local club, and if nothing happens we'll drag out the telescopes nad look at other stuff in the sky.

    We never bother bringing the media in on possibly "big" events anymore, though, because they just blow the entire general public's expectations out of proportion and then blame astronomers for being wrong when it doesn't come off. If something happens then we all get to see it and tell the media after it's happened - if we're lucky, someone got a good photograph.

    So don't get your hopes up. Anyway, for everyone who does go out and look, here's some pointers:

    • Try to find a group of people - ideally people who are interested in observing of some sort, but otherwise just grab some friends. Astronomical observing is so much more fun when there are other people around to enjoy it.
    • Take some binoculars if you have them - they'll give you something to do if there aren't any meteors straight away, or at all. You can see so much more in the sky with binoculars. Magnification isn't important, but the size of the objective lens is, because the bigger it is the more light it collects and the more you can see.
    • Find somewhere dark. The darker, the better. Get away from civilisation, get away from streetlights. Don't use a torch because a flash of it wrecks anything up to an hour's worth of your eye's dark adaption. If and when you need to use a torch, use a red filtered one, since red light has the least effect on your eyes. (Putting some red cellophane over an ordinary torch usually works okay.) Be careful of interior car lights that come on when you open the door - they're annoying.
    • Take lots of warm clothes, and be prepared to be up all night. Several layers of clothes is good, because the air pockets trap in body heat. Also grab a warm hat, gloves, and generally as much as you can find. You don't have to wear it straight away but have it nearby for when you get cold. (Which often happens when you're outside at night and not moving around much - especially when moving into the winter like the northern hemisphere is.)
    • Take along a thermos and put hot coffee in it, or something similar. You'll want it after a while and having it there is much better than going inside. Also having a deck chair or a rug, or something else to lie back on for looking up is good. It gets a bit difficult straining your neck back all the time.
    • The Leonids are called that because they fly out from about that part of the sky. When the Earth's going through space, it's like the dust splattering on a windscreen, and the central point of that splattering (for this shower) is Leo. You might see them all over the sky, but they can all be traced back to this one point. If you want to know where and when Leo is, you could use a star map program like this one (I don't think there are any decent open source ones available, but please tell me if anyone knows of one), or try a website like this one. Even if Leo's not visible, you might still see meteors - they'll just look like they're coming from below the horizon.

    Have fun. =P And if you're still interested, go and find a local astronomical society. Local ones are usually better than big ones because you get to actually go out and do stuff.

  13. This show is more certain than others in the past by btempleton · · Score: 3, Informative

    Though there are 4 different sets of predictions, the main 3 agree exactly on the times of the peak -- 10 GMT and 18 GMT. I'm off to Japan or places near it. Airfares are super low -- $400 or so round trip to Japan.

    Joe Haldeman saw the storm in 1966. That one was bigger, about 66,000 meteors per hour by estimate. He described it to me as being like in a car driving through the snow or being on the bridge of the enterprise. For the first time, he felt he was on a planet speeding through space. It gave him a real sense of scale.

    That was enough for me to book the asian trip.
    Note that Australia will get half the meteors of Japan, Guam or China, but has the best chance of clear skies and the most English.

    --
    Has it been over a year since you last donated to the Electronic Frontier Foundation
  14. Shower Predictions by alien88 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    According to an article on space.com at peak, North and Centeral America are supposed to see around 800 per hour, Australia and East Asia around 2,000 per hour, Western Australia and East/South East/Central Asia around 8,000 per hour. Europe and South America will be in sunlight during the peak so they will only see normal rates of 10-15 per hour.

    Also stated is that Peter Jenniskens has predicted 4,200 per hour for North America at 5:09AM. His prediction is the highest yet.

    You can also check out predictions for 30 US Cities here.

  15. For Photographers by brad-d · · Score: 3, Informative
    For the sake of putting a few links in the same place, here is a collection of articles that talk about what you need to take photos of meteor showers.

    Firstly, photo.net's search engine returns a few results:

    1. The search results

    2. This article is a good pick from the above search.
    A good step-by-step guide can be found here.

    This site is supposed to have a very good article about meteor photography, but I haven't found the link yet. In any case it has a reasonable amount of information on meteors in general and how to best observe them. You'll find this information on this link.

    Of course, if any body else has other links to similar information I'd love to see them. I haven't gone out myself to take these types of shots before, so any help I can get is good.

    Finally, for a bit of inspiration - here is a photo (although not of a meteor shower, just star trails) that is just amazing.

    --
    -Brad
  16. Us europeens get our treat in December.. by z-man · · Score: 2, Informative

    We will get our treat in December when Geminids (Dec. 12-14) hit us. :)

    http://www.skypub.com/sights/meteors/meteors.shtml

  17. Re:Oh well... by Theodrake · · Score: 2
    Just drive out to the desert and throw a blanket on the ground. Take a few brews. Enjoy. Wake up next morning drive back to smog.

    Or drive up to Lake Arrowhead or Big Bear. Lots of mountains around LA where you can get up over 7000' MSL.

  18. Wrong Link by ahogue · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The link in the story to the "America" map is wrong - it points to the map for November 19, 2002. Here's the November 18, 2001 map.

  19. Finding a dark place to view the sky by jvptoad · · Score: 2, Informative

    The International Dark-Sky Association has a cool Dark Sky Finder on their website. Sorry Australia, it's just for the U.S.

    You can click on a spot on the map, and it will find the darkest locations within 60 miles. They used census data to estimate the amount of light pollution in a given area based on population, so it might be a good idea to do a sanity check before heading out somewhere in the middle of the night.

    Happy viewing!

  20. Hooray! by Sarcasmooo! · · Score: 2

    Since these are more prominent than smaller stars maybe I'll be able to make out a blurry glimpse of them as they streak across the smog clouds above the city!

  21. As a strange, geeky tie-in... by Lurkingrue · · Score: 2, Informative

    As a peculiar coincidence, Chris Crawford seems to be involved heavily in studying the Leonids.

    Crawford, many of us will remember, is the programming mind behind some of the more intriguing games of the old Atari computer platform (Legionnaire, Eastern Front) as well as some very interesting stuff done on the early Macintosh system (Patton vs Rommel, Balance of Power, Siboot II). Lately, he's been involved in some interactive fiction projects, but has received very mixed reviews from the IF community (see /. recent article on this year's IF competition).

    If anyone is interested in helping out a minor computer-gaming legend with another geek-out, you can see what he's up to this year with the Leonids at:
    http://www.erasmatazz.com/Leonids/Leonids.htm l

  22. Re:Oh well... by Gordonjcp · · Score: 2

    Or anywhere out in the sticks away from light. From the north of Scotland, it would probably take me until the 18th to drive to any kind of desert...

  23. If there's one night... by lbastiae · · Score: 3, Informative

    If there's one night in the next few decades to watch for meteors, it's definitely this one. I agree that you can't be 100% sure, but all predication models show high peaks at the same times. Only the expected amounts (ZHR) differs. Predictions for 1999 with less solid models proved to be less than 5 minutes wrong in time. I wouldn't call that inaccurate... Some suggestions: - Peaks are quite sharp. Only a couple of hours around the peak get very high activity. - Three expected peaks: one perfect for America (11/18 10h01 UT), two others best in eastern Asia (11/18 17h31 UT and 18h19 UT). - Observations before midnight local time don't make too much sense since you're on the wrong side of the earth. - Of course usual astronomical hint: dark area... Anyway, I'll be travelling from Belgium to China for the event...

  24. Nice star charting program... by Abcd1234 · · Score: 2

    Try using XPLNS... search Freshmeat for it. It's free and does a fairly decent job of producing charts. 'course, I'm no expert in star charting apps, so I may not be the best to judge. :) Anyway, I've used it a number of times to generate charts for various things.