Posted on 11/16/2012 6:32:25 PM PST by BenLurkin
The Leonid Meteor Shower 2012 is set to peak on Saturday, Nov. 17.
Skies are looking like they'll cooperate as the Leonid meteor shower gets under way.
Space.com has a number of tips for watching the Leonids. The site also has some spectacular Leonids photos. And here's a Youtube video of the Leonid meteor shower.
The show follows some nice shows by the Taurids Meteor Shower earlier this month, and the spectacular Perseids Meteor Shower, which wowed gazers in August.
Monrovia resident and JPL astronomer Jane Houston Jones doesn't expect the shower to be visible in the Los Angeles area because of weather conditions, according to her Facebook page.
(Excerpt) Read more at glendora.patch.com ...
I have been sadly disappointed by every single meteor “shower” I’ve stayed up, or got up, to watch. The only good ones are when you are camping under the stars and just happen to see one on occasion.
You have to be far away from city lights. The perseid (correct one?) shower in August is amazing.
Saw a nice one in Alabama about 15 years ago. Very nice. We were in Mountain Brook outside Birmingham. Very upscale so I think they ordered the lights off in the region.
You have to drive north on Hwy 14 to Hwy 178 - once you turn onto 178, reset your trip-tic and exactly 9.3 miles away there is a turn-off (on the left) into a little campground.
That place is far from city-light pollution - where I was able to see thousands of the Leonid meteors per hour.
Take warm clothes, hot (or cold) drinks, a few munchies and enjoy.... expect to see a number of other folks that come to see the show.
It was really worth the trip I made there. Only trouble is, now I've told a lot of people about the place...
Dang. Looks like we will be having storms.
I am an MS junkie, and an expert. Most MSs don’t come even close to living up to the hype. But my first ever MS (the Perseids in west Texas 14 years ago) were stunning beyond all possible description. Saw them completely by accident, and didn’t even know it was an MS. This is the event, however, that turned me into an MS junkie. There were between 5 and 10 shooting stars every single minute for at least two hours. I now regularly plan vacations around MSs and that is no exagerration.
If you have some patience, and live in the right place, you can see at least one shower each and every single night for the rest of your life.
I did that for a while — but then my neighbor caught me looking!
One of my favorite 'guilty pleasure' movies!
The Leonid shower back in 2002 or 2003 which ever was the big year certainly did
And I would have loved to see the one in the sixties
But if you really are an expert, maybe you can answer a question I always wondered.
How far can you see a Meteor?
For example if I see a Meteor here in NJ, if my parents 300 miles away in upstate NY were looking in the same place in the sky (like Leo) would they see the same Meteor? How about my cousin 1000 miles away in Georgia?
There is also a “Day of the Triffids” TV movie from England that is pretty good too.
Clear Black moonless night sky, and suddenly about 9pm the meteors started zipping across the black sky, maybe a hundred a minute. Gorgeous sight!
Then about 10:30pm the northern lights appeared, and danced in the northern sky in various shades of light green, kind’a like ribbon candy, the way they were convoluted, pulsating and winding in a rhythm.
Just before our watch was ending, a small light appeared at about two o'clock to our heading. We initially thought it was a fishing boat in the area, but after about 10 minutes, we realized that it was the point of the new moon arising in the north-east, casting some light in our beautiful playground that we had enjoyed for about three hours!
A very memorable night about 33 years ago! A notch on my bucket list!
I had been also, sadly disappointed by every shower I got up to see. Except for one.
I got a hint that something special was going on by going outside around 4:30 am and spotting 3-4 meteors in about a 15 minute period. Might be worth the 10 minute ride to the country and dark skies (we live in a town of 7000).
After stepping out onto the farmer's field (I had cultivated a friendly relationship with him and had a place he advised me to park when bike riding), I noted at least one a minute. In one ten second period, I saw 3 seperate meteors. There were fireballs, splitting up meteors an a truly sureal show. Must have seen 60-75 in the hour before dawn.
That night the evening news reported how the shower had been a big disappointment. The city lights hidden most of the action.
For example if I see a Meteor here in NJ, if my parents 300 miles away in upstate NY were looking in the same place in the sky (like Leo) would they see the same Meteor? How about my cousin 1000 miles away in Georgia?
Your question is a good one, but I cannot answer it. I did see one time in an amateur astronomy book that different groups could compare angualr sighting data and triangulate to determine the distance from the observers.
Good question, and I don’t know the answer. Probably not very far, because they’re in Earth’s atmosphere and the whole curved planet thing comes into play pretty quickly. Also, as you may know, (and I find this the most amazing thing about meteors) the average meteor is SMALLER THAN A GRAIN OF SAND! A big one is pea-sized.
I had the good luck to see one some years ago while driving on a dark freeway. It was indeed spectacular.
(And: thank you for your service)
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