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Major Meteor Shower Next Weekend
IronClad writes: "By some reports, the annual Leonid meteor shower should be the best show in decades, and possibly until 2099. With meteors peaking November 17-18, and particularly over the Pacific, now is the time to check the predicted local meteor flux and buy chips for those star parties. Anyone adding a wireless hub and laptops for a star+lan party?"
How about some basic info on where to watch, eh?
Gleened from Space.com [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.
info for all the little meteorites that haven't taken baths lately
Will East Tennessee get left out of this cool event, just like we are left out of reliable cable, good DSL and everything else I want?
Job? I don't have time to get a job! Who will sit around and bitch about being broke and unemployed then?
If you want a good view:
- Get away from city lights. The farther the better.
- Get away from cloudy regions. Duh.
- Get lucky. Look at the right time. Only problem is that estimates of the right time are only estimates.
Seriously though, I just thought it'd be worthwile referencing a very similar posting here on /. just a few days ago. It is cool to see that the flux estimator link made it onto the main page. If it's accurate, it'll really help all of us strange enough to go out and look (me being one of them) to actually find the best meteor shower show.
Anyone from the area (see subject) have a good spot to watch from? I was thinking of going out to the Rincon Valley hills.
Ideas?
"Not my manner of thinking but the manner of thinking of others has been the source of my unhappiness." - M
Here's a site that is predicting a ZHR (zenith hourly rate) of meteors during the height of the shower on the order of 1000-3000. Works out to one a second or so - which while not totally amazing - would be a much higher rate than I've ever seen.
They've got two models and both seem to be in relative agreement. It all depends on how the Earth is oriented and moving through the comet trail and the exact geometry of the dust distribution in the trail. But what the heck - I've hung out before, maybe this will be my year to get lucky!
For those on the East Coast, it'll probably be worth getting up a little (okay - a lot) earlier than normal. Check out Leo in the Southeast sky (about 45 degrees above the horizon) around 5 AM in the morning. That should get you right around peak.
The rate should start to ramp up after midnight EST peaking just before dawn. Those to the west will get to see the decline.
The only problem for those on the west is that with the constellation of Leo being the radiant (hence the name) and Leo being low or below the horizon, they'll be missing most of the show. It's just as bad or worse in Europe this time around, since they'll be in daylight during the predicted max.
In illa quae ultra sunt
No, just every few days slashdot reports on it!
sulli
RTFJ.
Hey, while we're out watching the meteors, I bet the /. crew will be trying to figure out how many copies of the same article they can dish out!
C'mon guys, this is like what, 10 repeats in 2 weeks? It's getting ridiculous. Do you read any of these comments or what?
He copied this word for word from this comment.
timothy has it wrong. The Leonids are peaking on the night of November 18-19, not on 17-18.
I live in Boston, but by an awesome coincidence, I will be in Australia on that very night. Here's to an awesome meteor shower!
The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what we share with someone else when we're uncool. -Crowe
The leonids were a let-down in 1999? Whatever. I drove 20 miles north of San Antonio (which has horrible light pollution) with my girlfriend. We sat out in my pickup truck bed and got the show of a lifetime.
This concludes my karma whoring for the day =)
-- Imagine how much more advanced our technology would be if we had eight fingers per hand.
Only six days until Bellis!!!!
And if you're paranoid: :-)
- Get away from the beach to avoid any tsunami
We may even have live updates on a web page during the show (if I write the code in time anyway :)
Can someone tell me what the estimates will be in Dallas for the duration of the shower? I can't view the page using Mozilla 0.9.5 on OS X. phooey :P
Methinks it has already started...Friday night, I was flying a Cessna 152 from Oklahoma City, OK to Indianapolis, IN. I saw several meteors, including a couple of strange ones--one was greenish in color, had a strobe-ish sort of effect, and appeared to be at about 20,000 feet; another was normal white, but again, looked fairly low. I was already talking to Center, and asked them about it, thinking maybe the Air Force was doing some sort of exercise, but they confirmed that there were no other aircraft in the area. There's some cool stuff up there, and even at 5,500 feet, you can see a whole lot more than you can on the ground. I will never forget some of the ones I saw last Friday.
"Make it ten--I am only a poor corrupt official."
--Captain Louis Renault (Claude Rains), Casablanca
No, it's not me. Some people are just dorks I guess. I'm sort of flattered, though.
The second significant peak will begin around 12 noon EST and last until 2 pm EST on the 18th of November. The best viewing for this peak will be over Australia and the Far East. The level of activity for this event could be anywhere from 7000 to 15000 meteors per hour!
Anybody who can corroborate..
How come every time I read about an upcomming meteor shower, they always say it's going to be the best ones ever, and the best one in the near future.
NASA is trying to protect you from the terrible secrets of space.
Hammer of Truth
Anyone know of a good spot to watch in the San Francisco Bay area? My first though was that the top of Mount Diablo would be far enough away from the light pollution to see it well, but the park closes at sunset.
I've spent more nights than I care to remember out with my little red torch looking for leonids, taurids, younameitids with minimal success.
/. make money idea! start charging us for heavenly activity warnings - I'd pay $20 a year for that kind of service!
My best exerience was a chance aurora a couple of years ago - huge pulsing green, red blue, white for about an hour - amazing. Didn't see more than half a dozen meteors though!
Hopefully next weekend will be better. Hopefully.
What we need is an email / SMS service that will inform us if its turning out good - so we can leap from bed and have a squiz out the window!
Now THERES an
I very happy to hear this in advance it seems I always hear about these things after the fact lets see if the weather cooperates
http://Lenny.com
4 great justice!