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Leonid Meteor Shower 2002
Jacer writes "Adler press reports that 'approximately every 33 years the Leonid Meteor shower becomes a breathtaking meteor storm -- capable of illuminating the night sky with thousands of meteors per hour. Astronomers predict that the height of the storm over North America in 2002 could possibly generate 40 meteors every minute -- over 2,400 per hour!' Space.com has plenty of information available. I wanted to submit it early so you could plan ahead. It'd make for a long work or school day, but it's not something I'd care to miss."
where's my wishlist...
I thought this was last year... Or was there another meteor shower?
-- derby
is the peak. A little detail that would have been better in the introductory text.
A. Rightmann
And damn, I'm pretty sharp to have caught this, since I'm pushing 90 now...
Is get the hell away from NYC so I can see the sky fall.
That was sooo last year!
and it was pretty cool to watch while lying in the back of my pickup in the Mohave desert, hundreds of miles away from cloudy home!
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
ha ha, i still remember how last year was going to be this great meteor shower, and it was going to be the biggest one in a hundred years.
so me, being a sucker, sat outside in the mountains and froze my can off waiting for the sky to light up like it was US vs. Iraq and got jack
well, it wasn't exactly jack, but it certainly wasn't like daylight. however i will say that it was still one of the coolest things i've ever seen, and by all accounts it was a minor one. if you have the chance i highly recommend watching these. if nothing else it's a nice quiet hour or two to appreciate that some of the best things in life have nothing to do with technology.
Look Skyward November 19 In The Early Morning Hours To Catch The Leonid Meteor Shower.
And just what! am I going to use to catch a Leonid meteor? and if I do, can I sell it on EBay without NASA busting me for selling a piece of space rock that they say belongs to them?
From excellent karma to terible karma with a single +5 funny post...
I have always wanted to watch the Leonid Meteor Shower, but unfortunately I live in Cleveland where we have two types of weather. Cloudy, and Cloudy with Rain.
I'm a Tasty-vore. If it's Tasty, I'll eat it.
I'd hate to end up missing something like this and instead be out having meaningless sex...
/^[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,4}$/i
...that smashing head-first into a powered CRT monitor gives the same effect.
I'll form my OWN solar system! With blackjack! And hookers!
Last year I went camping out in the Arizona desert to watch these. I'll be going back there again this year as well.
Something I discovered last year... if you plan on doing any time exposure photography, don't leave the shutter open for as long as you normally would for a night sky photo. I ended up with a lot of fogged prints because of the high occurence of super-bright meteoroids. You know the ones I mean, the kind you can almost read by, the ones that leave fluorescing smoke trails that seem to linger for five or ten seconds.
And too bad I get drug screened where I work, it could've been a "wow - bitchin'" night.
Keep in mind this is two days before the full moon, so you're going to miss a lot of low magnitude meteors.
-aiabx
Just this guy, you know?
I love these things, really I do. I always get exicited when I hear about the next comet or shower that can be easily seen without a telescope, and then I manage to sleep through it all. Even when I set the alarm, I just hit the button, then back to sleep. It says 5:30 peak, which is much better than 1 or 2 in the morning. Maybe this will be the time. I'll put the coffee on auto so there's a fresh pot waiting. I hope the weather is good for it. When things only happen once every 100, 70, or 33 years, it seems it should be witnessed by all.
Considering that you suggest that you are giving an "early warning" and suggesting that "It'd make for a long work or school day" that kind of information might be important.
BTW Nov. 19th if you didn't make it to the article.
----
katrina's galleries!
Oh, and fucking. Lots and lots of fucking.
Obviously, you are not part of the core \ . demographic.
Oh boo hoo. I went to see last year's meteor shower and I'm up in northern Canada, we just brought lots of hot chocolate and we were fine, eh. Then one of the meteorites came flying down and landed in the field, it was still hot so we put some grass and wood on it and a huge bonfire to keep warm eh. Then the aliens came down and wanted their rock back so we had to give it to them, but they let us go without a probing, which was nice. Come to think of it, I think our hot chocolate's may have been a wee bit Irish. I like stories. Don't you like stories?
-hero.
You'll be blinded, which will make you easy pickin's for the man-eating plants that will have sprouted by next morning. I mean, geez, doesn't anyone else here watch science documentaries?
Roving Web-Teleoperated Robot
This year's Leonid shower will be the last one for a long time to come! Earth won't pass through this comet trail for quite a while. The next probable year for a Leonid shower/storm is 2098, or maybe even 2131!
See this article for explanation. The dates are on page 4.
But for this year, a great show is still expected. So if you have half an option to go outside for a while (say, Nov 19), do so!
I believe posters are recognized by their sig. So I made one.
Before modding this off-topic, read the whole post:
Quick, any fans of Cormac McCarthy out there?
What book of his set in the 19th century prominently features the Leonids in the first few paragraphs?
Answer: Blood Meridian.
Quite possibly the best American novel written in the second half of the 20th century. It's about a band of American mercenaries who go into Mexico to hunt up scalps for pay.
(It's also one of the eeriest and most violent American novels written -- heads getting lopped off, horses getting slaughtered, and a very weird, Ahab-like character called 'The Judge' presiding over everything.)
Anyway, the main character -- the Kid -- is born beneath the Leonids, and the infrequent meteor shower during the night of The Kid's birth makes for a very strange sense of forboding. That, and the fact that the Leonids come every 33 years -- very Christ-like, I suppose -- so the kid gets marked with this odd mixture of innocence, wisdom, and violence.
So I had no idea what the Leonids were, and after reading Blood Meridian, I thought it was something McCarthy made up. But a little research, of course, proved otherwise.
The strange thing about the Leonids -- and about the cycle of Halley's (sp?) comet (Mark Twain was born when the comet appeared, died when the comet next appeared) -- makes for some interesting moments in American literature.
My question -- finally get back on topic -- is this: when all these meteors are shooting through the sky, do they burn up in the atmosphere? Do some make it through? You'd think if there were that many, one or two would cause some serious damage.
It will be foggy again.
Seriously though, I know I plan on attempting to take some pictures this year, and hopefully something will turn out. For those of you complaining about a full moon, the moon doesn't rise until late in the night, which should give plenty of good photography time, particularly for those of us on the west coast.
If anyone else is interested in this sort of thing but isn't sure how to get started or what you need, this very good beginner's guide makes for good reading.
Random and weird software I've written.
One of those meteors will crash to earth and some invisible phantoms are going to emerge from it. They will ravage the earth for 35 years, people will seek refuge in "barrier cities" until a nicely animated, girl with hair from a shampoo ad saves us all. I read about it here
13 year old white supremacists are shitty web designers.
Last year was the first year I tried using my digital camera (Olympus C3000) to catch the show, leaving the shutter open for up to 16 seconds.
What I didnt know is that CCD's have a transient response to temperature. Make sure to get out early and allow your camera time to acclimate to the temperature. Otherwise youll get very speckled photos.
"Open the pod by doors, Hal" > "I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave" sudo "Open the pod bay doors, Hal" > alright
A couple of tips for the first timers.
- Get away from the city lights (and pullotion) as much as possible.
- Have a good field of view because they will be all over the sky not just in the vicinity of Leo
- Do NOT concentrate at the spot where they will come from (Leo) rather about 40 degrees away, as odd as this may seem, the shooting stars around Leo won't leave a long trail (they will be coming towards you ) and you won't be seing much.
I've gone out looking for the Leonids for 4 years now. Unless I'm willing to drive several hours from where I live, I'm screwed. And each year they hype this thing more and more. Wasn't last year supposed to be amazing because of some other asteroid thingie? And the year before that... _that_ was supposed to be huge. Oh, and wait, the one before _that_ was supposed to be momentous. Damn nerd hype.
"Sometimes a woman is a kind of religion, she can save your soul & set you free from all your sins" - Bad Examples
Too bad, it will be during a full moon. Also a penumbral eclipse of the moon will be also viewed the very same day.
I need a Sino-Logic 16. Sogo-7 data-gloves, a GPL stealth module...
As the comet Tempel-Tuttle approaches the Sun toward a May 2031 perihelion, it will pass within 1.5 a.u. of Jupiter in August 2029. This encounter will push the comet closer to the Sun and increase the distance between Earth's orbit and the comet's to 0.0162 a.u. -- their largest separation since 1733. Such a large gulf between the two orbits may preclude any substantial meteor activity for the year 2031, and for several years thereafter, when the next cycle of Leonid storms would normally be expected.
In examining this next Leonid cycle, McNaught has found three outlying dust trails that the Earth will approach in the years 2033 and 2034. "Unfortunately," he notes, "they are probably too distant for any reasonable chance of high activity."
There will be little improvement at the comet's subsequent return in 2065, for the separation between the orbits of the comet and the Earth will have diminished only slightly to 0.0146 a.u.
In 2098 the separation of the orbits shrinks to 0.0062 a.u. And in 2131, for the first time since 1633, the comet crosses our orbital plane slightly outside the Earth's orbit at a distance of 0.0089 a.u. Not until one, or both, of these remote years can our great grandchildren expect to witness a storm of Leonid meteors.
So get out there and see the damn thing. I'm in Northern Thailand, so not much hope for me :-(
I went to the Space.com website and most of the page was obscured by pop-up ads. Sadly this made me remember that last year I got up at 4 a.m. to watch the show and was greeted with thick fog.
http://www.kubuntu.org/
I know that this was a problem when I went out to view a storm this past summer; I couldn't see anything because of the haze.
The Space.com article mentions that costal dwellers (yup, that's me) move inland.
My question is how much difference will it make when it's November? For the last leonid shower, I watched it out at Sandbridge (rather remote part of Va. Beach), and didn't have problems with the haze. Biggest problems were the cold (we didn't have the bottle of Jagermeister to warm us up like the VCU studends who shared the dune with us), and some clouds.
Would I be better off going inland, really, than to say, the Outer Banks?
Check these out:
http://www.arm.ac.uk/leonid/dust2002.html
Looks like we are in line with the dust trails from the famous 1767 and 1866 showers, when "meteors fell like rain." So there's a tiny chance it could be a shower of historic proportions. And of course the computer model for this prediction is experimental, the shower can (and probably will) turn out to be a dud. But ooh that one chance in a million that it could be a shower they're still talking about 200 years from now..
Watch out for strange man eating plants!!!!
You beat me to my favourite meteor joke!
And by the way, The Day of the Triffids is a kick ass book, not just a movie to watch in all its Hollywood "glory". John Wyndham kicks butt! He even predicted that man would be able to orbit the moon, in 1969, when writing in the 1930s!. [He thought we would be at Mars by now though, silly him...]
Triffids shows the dangers of GM food, and having space bourne weapons of mass destruction just waiting for a shower like the Leonid's to wipe humanity clean.
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
If you are going outside don't forget these essentials:
;)
-a blanket you don't mind getting mud/grass on
-a Deet based bug repellent (Unscented Off in the push spray works great)
-a small flashlight (so you don't ruin your night vision)
-take your Allegra _before_ you leave
-pants/long sleeves if you're bothered by bugs
And I would recommend:
-pillows
-snacks (Thermos w/ Hot Chocolate/Coffee, food you can eat with gloves on)
-spare jacket, sweater, gloves (layers!)
-wine
-small radio (I prefer a short-wave; in the middle of no where you can usually pick up different stations)
-a date
-xtra blankets to 'cuddle' in
Great occasions do not make heroes or cowards; they simply unveil them to the eyes. -Bishop Westcott
For all of the armature astronomers out there with a passing interest in this stuff, here are some helpful links for this years storm:
/.r makes telescopes
Where to find a dark place to view from: DarkSky.org
The storm forecast by city (US/World) from NASA: NASA
Astronomy Links In General:
NASA's J-Pass Satellite Passes: Near earth objects(Java,Email)
NASA's SkyWatch 1.4: Excellent for finding events (Java)
Satellite Related Software: For UNIX, Mac, Windows, Palm & more
SpaceWeather.com: Plan to see the auroras
SlashDot.org: Leonid's Last Year
Weather.com: Don't forget to check before you leave
By MichaelCrawford: This
Tips: viewing and what I bring with me.
Great occasions do not make heroes or cowards; they simply unveil them to the eyes. -Bishop Westcott
The almost full moon will really impact this show... it will be best to wait until very early morning - 4am on the US east coast when the Moon is about to set, but before morning twilight starts to brighten the sky. Put something - like trees - between you and moon.
If you are out while the moon is up, you will learn just how bright the moon really is when you are away from city lights. After 20 minutes, you won't need a flashlight. Be sure to notice how you can't detect color very well.
While the moon is up, you will only see the brightest of the meteors, so don't expect anything like last year. Just hope and pray for a storm during the narrow moon set/twilight window.
2001 was spectacular in Colorado. I came back from a Sunday pre-Thanksgiving dinner and rested. It was supposed to peak after dawn, so I went out in the city lights at 3AM and saw a couple per minute. So I drove to a darker park and saw what looked like continuous fireworks.
I work for a major satellite operator, and meteor showers are something that has to be dealt with every year, several times a year. And we (and the other satellite operators in the world) deal with it fairly handily.
The odds of a collision are fairly small to begin with, and it's possible to hedge that a bit. The main body of most large satellites (speaking only for the geostationary variety) is less than 2.5 meters on a side. The solar arrays are much larger, but that's solved by rotating them so that they're edge-on to the approach path of the meteors.
It would be much more troublesome for the ISS or something else big. But something big also has mass on its side, and most of the particles involved in a meteor shower are really, really small.
We can believe in you for 3 minutes, but beyond that, even the King of All Cosmos can't be expected to wait.
Finally being an unemployed programmer pays off. If i had to go to work on Tuesday I wouldn't be able to wake up at 4:00am to check this out.
[alk]
..except for the nearly full Moon. However, during the 'peak' Leonid period (3:30am - until daybreak) there are a number of other fine sights in the sky, many observable with good binoculars or a medium-size telescope:
1. Saturn's upper pole is currently pointed in our direction, which means you can see more of the rings right now than we will for many years to come.
2. Jupiter will also be high enough in the sky for a good view. The Galilean moons are breathtaking. On November 18th, viewers in the northern hemisphere will be able to see Ganymede occult Io for about 3 minutes - this kind of event is only possible to view from earth once every six years or so!
3. The Pleiades, also known as 'Subaru' or 'Seven Sisters', among other names. Very young, bright stars forming from gas disturbed in a supernova. With moderately powered binocs or a small telescope, one can see that the 'seven sisters' are just the brightest of hundreds of stars in an open cluster. An extended-exposure astrophotograph will show the clouds of bluish gas and dust still surrounding the stars.
4. My favorite - Orion, and the Great Orion Nebula. For viewers in the mid-northern latitudes, look for 3 stars in a straight diagonal line, almost due south at 3:00 am and about 2/3 elevated from the horizon to the zenith. Below those three stars (Orion's Belt) you should be able to find two dimmer stars in a vertical line (Orion's Sword) with a fuzzy patch in between (in darker areas). Good binoculars or a small scope will show one of the most beautiful sights in the sky!
So even if the Leonids crap out, there will still be things to see! Get that old telescope out and see what you can find!
Everyone will start to cheer when you put on your sailin' shoes.
This has to be the third year running I've heard how the Leonid shower is going to be a once in 33 years spectacular experience. Enough already, which year is it and can we dispense with the Leonid hype for the next 32 years if this is indeed the peak?
From I've read, it doesn't sound like it. The best viewing area is in on the east coast of the United States.
--fetch daddy's blue fright wig, i must be handsome when i release my rage
In case you were wondering what NASA knows, tells, and plans to do about it:
http://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/
Mordor...a magical, mythical land where women are more rare than dragons--but where every man would rather find a dragon
Good. It's nice to see /. doing it's part to help geeks appreciate how important showers are.
*ahem*
..don't panic