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Invaders from Space! Leonid Showers tonight.
Space.Com, Astronomy Magazine and The American Meteor Society all have tons of information, viewing guides and historical perspectives for you to peruse in anticipation of tonight Lonid meteor shower. Many are predicting a once in a lifetime event, as the Earth is expected to swing through 3 debris trails laid down by Comet 55p/Temple-Tuttle. One article mentions that up to 10,000 events per hour could be in the offing. So if you feel like staying up till 2am pst (10 ut) you'll be able to check it out. I know we've been hyping this event, but, well, we are okay with this.
For some absolutely gorgeous photographs of past Leonid showers, see the Leonid Multi-instrument Aircraft Campaign.
-The One God of Smilies =)
"Never put off for tomorrow what can be avoided altogether"
it'd be neat if people took pictures from different parts of the world of the showers and maybe /. could put them together in a sort of gallery, listing the times of each and the various locations.. or even someone that just reads /.
any ideas for this ?
Gee, my fingers are COLD but it was a clear and starry night!!
I started at 04:25.
I counted 18 by 04:30. The 100th came at 05:15. The 150th came at 05:25. I wanted to count the 200th but my neightbour had to go to work and triggered the parking lot BRIGHT light at 05:46 with a count of 197.
I probably didn't even see 1/4 or 1/5 of them all. I (d'oh!) realized my hat (baseball cap) was obstructing the upper part of my vision (didn't notice because it was dark!) at about 5:30 so turned it around and dealt with it not keeping my head quite as warm. Also, with buildings and trees all around me (thankfully most of the trees aren't evergreen so were mostly transparent) there were large areas of the sky that I couldn't see at all.
Not taking a chair outside was a big mistake, too. Trying to stand, stay warm AND crane your head up at the sky for over an hour wasn't that comfortable, but was well worth getting up early for!!
Slashdot? Oh, I just read it for the articles.
WOW!!!, My girlfreind and I stuck it out in the freezing cold from 4:20AM-5:30AM. On one of the clearest nights this season we could see far more stars than usual and knew we had a good chance for spotting some meteors. Little did we realize the show that was in store for us. I'd say we were seeing ~20 meteors a minute consistently for the entire period. There were definitely bouts with few if any followed by peaks where 5 or 6 meteors would streak the sky simultaneously. Considering the estimates were that only 500/hour would be visible if we were lucky, we must have been very very lucky, as we were exceeding those numbers by quite a bit. I can't wait to find out the final tally on last night's storm. Imagine that we were able to see so much from Brooklyn, NY... I never would have thought. Our friends in Australia are in for one hell of a show if there meets predictions.
WOW! Rarely waited more than 20 seconds between seeing meteors; saw 2 at once at least a dozen times; and a couple of times I saw 3 at once! Saw many with long, orange-colored trails. Definitely well worth it!
Background info: Observed from 4:15 - 5:45 AM EST and saw meteors throughout that period. I was located at a state park about 20 miles west of Boston. I hopes to lessen the impact of light pollution, but could not make out the milky way. :(
And it was COLD! About 25 degrees Fahrenheit. I was prepared with heavy thermal underwear, turtleneck, wool sweater, ski suit, two layers of heavy socks, heavy boots, wool hat, and ski gloves... and I still got cold! Glad I brought a thermos of hot coffee!
Something on the order of 75 cars were parked in the lot and along the roadway to it, so there was a goodly number of us watching together. It was really something to hear simultaneous "Ooooo"s and "Ahhhhh"s!
We had a good night too. Good weather, although there was still a
fair bit of skyglow near the horizon. Couldn't see the Milky Way, but
we had a view where we could lie down and see nearly all the night sky
at once. Although juding from the oohs and aahs when I didn't see
anything, there were some I was missing, maybe 5%, mostly from people
standing up looking near the horizon where I wasn't paying as much
attention since it was brighter. But most of the ones I saw were
plenty bright. It wasn't like there were many that I could just
barely see. Or maybe I just didn't notice those for all the bright
ones. I think the show was still going when twilight cut us off.
I'll know the rate once I play back the audio tape, but we
probably saw a few hundred total. The most spectacular were the long
bright green ones that left a trail that stuck around for several
seconds afterwards. A few even had a second burt. Probably 10-20
really bright ones with green tails. One was audible. Several times
there were multiple meteors visible at once. In any case,
it was a great show. Now need to get ready for my trip.
It was an amazing view from the top of stone mountain. The state park was open charging $7 at the door, but it was worth every penny. After a 1.5 mile hike up the mountain, the view was probably the best you could get within a 100 mile radius of Atlanta. The mountain got us above the worst of the light pollution but you couldn't catch much near the bright orange horizon (on all sides)
I probably saw at least 200 separate meteors and saw 2 simultaneous several times and during one 5 second period saw 5 or 6. The predictions seemed right on target with the shower peaking 5am EST and trailing off near twilight (but still getting one every minute or so). There wasn't a cloud in the sky but the horizon was layered in well lit smog dimming out a few really low ones.
There was one in particular that glowed bright blue-green and travelled at an amazingly slow speed for about 1 second before dying. It reminded me of a dud Roman candle firework, just sputtering its way across the sky instead of flying.
I've gone my entire life (24 years) without ever seeing a meteor until tonight. I was always the unlucky one that was looking away when they happened by chance. I've now marked one more item off of the things to do in my lifetime. Thanks to the slashdot folk for all the details (peak time, etc) that allowed me to see this wonderful event.
Drove way outta the LA city lights up to Wrightwood. Got the families and kids together with lawn chairs, munchies, and good hot coffee. Great show! Saw quite a few leaving a serious trail of sparks behind them. Stayed up there until about 2:30am.
Heck, on the way home passing by the lights of the San Fernando Valley (a bit north of LA) I could see them still coming down through the windshield of the car. This is with a ton of light from the city lights, not to mention the other cars.
After everyone else went to bed I went back outside and could still see a tremendous show, again even with the lights of the city near by. It was still worth it to drive out to the darker parts as the show was just that much better.
Next time (2099) I've got plans to bring more coffee along!
The line must be drawn here. This far. No further.