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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.
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.
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.