Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Orionid Meteor Shower Peaks Early Tomorrow Morning

Posted by Soulskill on from the lights-in-the-sky dept.

New submitter blastoff9 sends this excerpt from Space.com: "The annual October meteor shower will peak before sunrise on Saturday (Oct. 22) as the Earth passes through a stream of leftover dust from the famous Halley's Comet. The Orionid meteor shower promises to offer skywatchers with a dark sky and good weather up to 15 meteors per hour at its peak, according to a NASA forecast.... The Orionids are visible each year, even though Halley's comet only swings by about every 75 years. This is because comets leave a trail of volatile ices and dust along their orbital path that hangs around long after the comets have come and gone."

21 comments

  1. Meteor shower! Yay! by h00manist · · Score: 1

    It is getting kind of hot.

    --
    Build your own energy sources from scratch. http://otherpower.com/
    1. Re:Meteor shower! Yay! by jd · · Score: 1

      It's the meteors that are getting a shower. Though how they'll get the water hooked up at that altitude is beyond me.

      --
      It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
    2. Re:Meteor shower! Yay! by MRe_nl · · Score: 2

      "Though how they'll get the water hooked up at that altitude is beyond me".

      It'll take about an hour with a tower of power.

      --
      "Kill 'em all and let Root sort 'em out"
    3. Re:Meteor shower! Yay! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A Zappa reference!

      Now I have Bobby Brown stuck in my head. I might have to pull out Sheik Yerbouti tonight just to get it out of there.

    4. Re:Meteor shower! Yay! by h00manist · · Score: 1

      Lots of work. They can't run water pipes all the way up the cable of the space elevator, so they'll have to take it up in buckets.
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator

      --
      Build your own energy sources from scratch. http://otherpower.com/
    5. Re:Meteor shower! Yay! by newcastlejon · · Score: 1

      Buckets might also be impractical, how about a particle fountain? The meteors could frolic about in that.

      --
      If God forks the Universe every time you roll a die, he'd better have a damned good memory.
    6. Re:Meteor shower! Yay! by jd · · Score: 1

      What's the capillary action like for nanotubes?

      --
      It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
  2. Sweet... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    An icy blast from the past!

  3. Mostly cloudy! by Hatta · · Score: 1

    Fuck!

    --
    Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
  4. Good tool for expected sky conditions by nharmon · · Score: 2

    This might be helpful in determining if you want to stay up or wake up early for this:

    http://cleardarksky.com/csk/

  5. Time-zones!? by angiasaa · · Score: 1

    Ah ha, So the morning of the 22nd eh?
     
    Sitting here in India, it's already 4:00 AM of the 22'nd of October 2011.

    Sure I can go read the article and then calculate backward from the websites timezone (which runs on EST btw) but seriously, this is the internet! No one has a local audience anymore!
     
    Did it not occur to anybody that we live in a world that's filled with time-zones!? :(

    --
    Geekism is your _only_ God!
    1. Re:Time-zones!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The peak of a meteor shower has more to do with your position on the planet than it has to do with a time. In most likeliness the local time you can take advantage of the peak is also 4 am for you. It's not an absolute but it's better than nothing.

    2. Re:Time-zones!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Did it not occur to you that a site run by Americans with a large majority of American users might post things from an American point of view? Seems like you had no problem doing the 3rd grade math required to figure it out.

    3. Re:Time-zones!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Right before sunrise is the best time because that's when you are on the part of the Earth that is heading into the debris, but before the Sun rises (wiping out any hope of being able to see anything).

      This is an orbital mechanics thing, not a specific time thing.

      Try 3-4am local tomorrow :-)

    4. Re:Time-zones!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      that's funny considering that you'd still have to know if it's westside or eastside..

  6. One good reason to live in the country by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You may be miles away from cinemas, galleries, theatres, bars or whatever you like to do in your free time but there is at least one consolation to living in the arse end of nowhere: the sky. Even living in quite a small town for most of my formative years, where I could see many more stars than people living in nearby cities I didn't truly realise what I was missing until I went camping my mid twenties.

    I urge everyone in every urban centre everywhere to venture out, even just once in your life, away into the countryside. Pack a tent, wait until it's dark and your eyes have adjusted, then simply look up. The word awesome doesn't even begin to describe what you will see on a clear night even with your naked eyes.

    I wish you all good seeing and a good night, meteor shower or not.

    1. Re:One good reason to live in the country by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have some weird form of vertigo where my brain crumbles at the sheer awesomeness of the night sky. The view out here in the desert is ridiculous. If you drive far enough you can get 360 degrees of flat horizon giving you the biggest sky you've ever seen. It's almost scary surreal.

    2. Re:One good reason to live in the country by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Meh, I'll just watch it on the internet.

  7. Safety first! by lastx33 · · Score: 2

    Please be safe if viewing the meteor shower. Wear dark glasses and lock up your plants.

    --
    "You can lead a horse to water but a pencil must be lead!" - Stan Laurel
    1. Re:Safety first! by ohellno · · Score: 1

      Sound advice

  8. Water Tubes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    there is an internet connection to the International Space Station. use the series of tubes to send up the water. easy.