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Science

Leonid Meteor Shower Tonight 155

Posted by jamie from the keep-looking-up(tm) dept.
The annual Leonid meteor shower hits tonight, as the Earth moves through the orbital path of a comet. The show is exceptionally good every 33 years, and in 1966 it was so dramatic some people thought the world was coming to an end. No one knows how it will look this year, so keep your fingers crossed. You don't need a telescope, just warm clothes, patience, and clear skies. The Leonids' unpredictability make it worth going out as soon as it's dark, but the peak is supposed to be between 11 PM and 1 AM (EST?). If it's cloudy, check out NASA's weather-balloon webcam.
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Leonid Meteor Shower Tonight More

Leonid Meteor Shower Tonight

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  • NYC (Score:2)

    by sporty ( 27564 )
    The hint to seeing this in NYC is to not necessarily have the lights on. When you look up, make sure there are no lights in your vision, including peripheral.

    ---

  • More Leonids info (Score:4)

    by Ledge Kindred ( 82988 ) on Wednesday November 17, 1999 @05:49AM (#1525396)
    Here [amsmeteors.org] is some great info about the Leonids that I've found from the American Meteor Society [amsmeteors.org]. The site also has info on all the other metoric events throughout the year.

    -=-=-=-=-

  • I've honestly never seen a meteor shower. I definitally hope to see one. Once, my super-geek and super boring science teacher tried to get my 8th grade science class watch a meteor shower, but there were like 2 people out of 91 that showed up!!
  • NPR ran a spot on the meteor shower this morning. One thing they mentioned is that hard-core astronomers are heading to Europe and the Middle East because that is where the center of the storm will be at peak intensity. They said that best viewing will be between 9-10pm EST, and the possiblity exists for up to 1000 shooting stars per hour. The main subject was how vulerable the sattelites in orbit are going to be. Tune in your favorite NPR station today at 4pm, they should rerun the spot.
  • In (I believe, I may be off by a year or two) 1833, Abraham Licoln was awakened during the wee hours to be told that the final judgement had arrived. Apparently, God was pretty pissed. The Leonids were putting on one of the best shows in (Western) recorded history, and they had no idea how to deal with it.
  • First, on the astronomy side, this will be the last good Leonid meteor shower. Ever. The Earth will move out of the path of the cometary debris, from now on, which will result in steadily weaker showers, eventually fading out to nothing.

    Second, this will STILL not be multicast! Even NASA, who have multicast facilities, won't interrupt some pre-recorded multicast which they've been repeating every 10 minutes since mid-day, for the meteor shower of the millenium. Last year, all of the sites broadcating webcams and RealAudio links were overloaded to the point of collapsing. BUT THEY WILL NOT LEARN!!! What is WRONG with these people?!?!?! The meteors should land on these idiot's thick skulls and thwack some sense into them!

    (Can you tell I like multicast technology, and DON'T like horrible lag?)

  • You won't see much until the radiant (in leo) rises, which will be about 2230 local time (depending a bit on your latitude, like sunrise).

    And don't trust the predicted peak time too much. Last year it was about 18 hours earlier than predicted. We had an excellent display in Scotland.

  • I used SkyMap to check the position of Leo tonight, and it shows that that constellation will be below the horizon tonight on the US eastern seaboard. I think our European geek brethren may be able to see it, though?
  • Yes they will get the full force of the show. It will be highly visible in the US after 3am when the Moon sets.
  • From what I heard, some locals in the Midwest (US) called up the police and reported "planes on fire" last night. At U.S. Fighter pilots said that they were privvy to some great fireworks from the shower. And, since it's not in the FAQ: How do you post a new message (new thread)?
  • I saw one of them on my way home from work last nite (7pm, Columbus, Ohio). It streaked across the sky, and eventually brokeup into smaller pieces that each streaked and then faded into nothingness. (and yes I was cursing that I didn't have my Oly2000 digital camera with me at the time) I've watched meteor showers before, but I never saw one this big, bright, or with such a long tail.
  • Anyone going to be on 2m or 70cm tonight??? I know I will :)

    KE4PJW
  • reply to the original post, not to users' comments. (same line as "threshold," "change," you'll find "reply")
  • Because we had neglected a small part of the physics - the meteor stream is in resonance with Jupiter.

    This year we think we've got it figured - everyone in europe should be in for a good show.
  • I was out driving in Detroit, MI and I think I saw the same one! It looked like a gigantic sparkler trail in the sky, moving WSW -> ENE, slowly breaking up into smaller trails.
    --
  • If that's the one that went west-to-east, it wasn't a Leonid (for sure). It was almost certainly a piece of space junk.
    --
    Advertisers: If you attach cookies to your banner ads,

  • Uh oh. (Score:1)

    by ErikZ ( 55491 )
    I can see it now.
    "Hey, aren't those meteorites supposed to me MUCH smaller?"
    FOOM FOOM FOOM FOOM!

    Later
    Erik Z

    My car!

  • Peak rate 2am /UTC/ (~not~ EST) (Score:5)

    by Cally ( 10873 ) on Wednesday November 17, 1999 @06:11AM (#1525416) Homepage
    Times for astronomical events are given in UTC which is the same as GMT. The expected peak Zenithal Hourly Rate (ZHR) of 15,000 has been predicted for 2am GMT.;

    Note that the ZHR is a /theoretical/ maximum that would be seen by an observer if the radiant (the line of comet's orbit, ie the place in the sky where the meteors appear to radiate away from) were directly overhead. Actual observed rates are always lower.

    Hints and tips for observing :

    • No smoking ! It ruins night vision.
    • Get as far away from light pollution as possible.
    • The radiant rises at about midnight local time in the northern hemisphere, in the east (of course ;) )
    • Use a deckchair or lawn chair to prevent a permanent crick in the neck.
    • wrap up WARMLY -- good skies == clear skies == very cold !
    • Hot drinks (counter-intuitively) do NOT warm you up if you're outdoors.
    • If your location is clouded in, set an alarm clock for 60-90 mins and check again. If they storm, and you miss them, you'll kick yourself !

    Finally, don't be too disappointed if you "only" get a ZHR of a few hundred. Last year's observations allowed significantly better understanding of the separate streams of debris coming off the parent comet. Predictions are for a relatively quiet year next year, but much higher ZHRs in 2001 and 2002.

    Clear skies, all !

    North American Meteor Network [infoave.net]
    Meteorobs mailing list [tiac.net] -- NB /VERY/ high traffic at the moment !
    --

  • Hopefully a meteor will gently smack the Hubble and fix it. :-)

  • Re:NYC (Score:1)

    by Dusty ( 10872 )
    >From where in the world will they be visible?
    >Will I be able to see this shower from Oxford, England at, say, 3 or 4 in the morning?

    Yes, the best time is supposed to be about 3am GMT.

    Its worth getting into the countryside to avoid the light pollution from street lights. I think I'll be visiting friends in the sticks south of Bristol.

  • Denial of Meteors (Score:3)

    by phobia ( 970 ) on Wednesday November 17, 1999 @06:16AM (#1525419) Homepage
    I just pray that the shower doesn't suffer the slashdot effect. I'd hate to stare at empty sky for hours just to learn that the shower crashed under the load when all the east coast geeks watched.

  • Leonids (Score:1)

    by GC ( 19160 )
    Anyone know whether the show will be visible from Europe, specifically the UK?

  • Contribute to the IMO 'live-ish' update (Score:5)

    by Cally ( 10873 ) on Wednesday November 17, 1999 @06:22AM (#1525421) Homepage
    See also :
    Leoniods 99 updates [amsmeteors.org].
    American Meteor Society [amsmeteors.org]


    This is X/posted w/out permission (sorry Marc! )

    \a


    I N T E R N A T I O N A L M E T E O R O R G A N I Z A T I O N

    1999 Leonids: Rapid Information Dissemination
    =============================================

    Dear meteor observer,

    >From earlier communications, you have learned that the IMO is setting
    up a communication network to obtain reliable information as soon as
    possible after the event in the morning of November 18. We invite you
    to contribute to this effort.

    First of all, we want to point out you must DISTINGUISH between the
    USUAL OBSERVATIONAL REPORTS, such as collected by the IMO's Visual
    Commission, and which may be used for detailed, global analyses, and
    the "EXPRESS REPORT" described below which serves as sole purpose the
    compilation of a rough but reliable picture of the activity within
    hours after the event.

    The EXPRESS REPORT should have the following format:

    Meteo R. Observer
    Fireball City (45N 10E)

    Time Interval (UT) Lim. Magn. Nr. of Leonids Remarks (if any)
    ------------------------------------------------ -----------------------
    01:15-01:30 5.8 27 None
    01:30-01:45 5.9 56 None
    01:45-02:00 6.1 156 None
    .
    .
    .

    To the extent possible, bin your observations for this "express report"
    in time interval of 15 MINUTES.

    (Again, the full report of your observations will be different from
    this express report, as shorter intervals are required as well as
    magnitude distributions and some additional data - see the earlier
    posted article with visual observing hints - but the above data
    suffice for the purpose indicated.)

    If you wish to collaborate with the IMO in this respect, please send
    your express report for the night of November 17/18 ONLY (or, of course,
    for any unexpected activity you might happen to witness)
    *** IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE OBSERVATION *** to the following email
    addresses:

    wgn@imo.net
    gyssens@hcoss.uia.ac.be

    The latter is a back-up address in case Web-site access to www.imo.net
    would prove to slow down our computer too much. This back-up address
    will be active only on November 17 and 18!

    Thank you in advance for any collaboration we may receive!

    Marc Gyssens
    International Meteor Organization

    --
  • I don't believe it's the last good shower EVER. I've read it will be the last for about 100 years or so, because the comet's orbit will be altered somewhat when it passes near Jupiter. Astronomers believe, however, the the orbit will "somehow" return to it's previous path after about 100 years, and then our great-great-grandchildren will get some great shows again.
  • It SHOULD be visible from Europe...

    But!

    Looking at the current infrared satellite images (http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/pub/s at-images/D2.JPG [nottingham.ac.uk]) it's not looking good...

    The sky is way too cloudy... too bad ;(

    Maybe England, Spain or France has some chance.
  • I live just outside Chicago and the lights are not very bright. Last night, (6:15pm) I saw what I thought (at the time) was a very large green and gold firework flying across (from west to east). It was very large and lasted for about 20-30 seconds. I didn't realize that it was a piece of a comet until I heard reports on the radio that people from Central Illinois to Wisconsin had seen the same thing. Did anyone else it? Any ideas on the size of it?
  • It was almost certainly a piece of space junk.

    I doubted it too (when I got home my stepson swore it was a UFO, heh), but this morning on the way in all the radio stations were talking about it, mentioning it was verified from Wright Patterson Airforce base in Dayton, OH. which is just west of Columbus.
    Just now I checked the website for the local newspaper and found an article here [dispatch.com] (note the logic of columbus residents calling the police) that has quotes from some OSU [osu.edu] Astronomers verifying what you said - that it was junk and not part of the Leonids.
    Damn! It certainly was brilliant looking. I've got my hopes up for tonite now!!

  • Going to try for some meteor scatter, eh? Should be fun. I wish I had the right gear to play with the scatter modes...73 de KF9FR...

  • Wish time! (Score:4)

    by Enoch Root ( 57473 ) on Wednesday November 17, 1999 @06:31AM (#1525427)
    The great thing about meteor showers is you get to see tons of shooting stars, and that means many, many wishes! Last year, I saw the Leonids, and now I:

    make $1,000,000 a year;

    have at least 5 Playboy playmates after my body at all times;

    have raised my IQ to the viscinity of 250;

    can eat a dozen donuts at every meal and stay slim.

    I hope to catch the Leonids this year, and if I do, I'll wish that I:

    get rid of all that money that attracts unwanted friends;

    stop going out with these superficial bimbos with silicone implants;

    get a little dumber, because worrying about special groups of non-linear differential equations as applied to a parametrised space-time tensor is no fun.

    I'll keep the fat-free donut rampage capacity, though!

    "The wages of sin is death but so is the salary of virtue, and at least the evil get to go home early on Fridays."

  • Anyone know whether the show will be visible from Europe, specifically the UK?

    In Ireland, the fun should start at about 1am, but word around the campfire is that it's going to be too cloudy to see anything. This was the case last year, when I froze my ass of and saw nothing.
    I hope you've better luck in the Uk.
  • The BBC has a page about them here [bbc.co.uk]. The sky today has been very clear, and there's a good chance that there will be a good view. It should start around 11pm and peak around 2am.

    HH
  • Hate to rain on your parade, but ...

    First of all, that probably was a satellite (possibly an Iridium). 20-30 seconds is a long time for a meteor. Secondly, if it was a meteor, it was probably a sporadic and not associated with the Leonids since Leo doesn't rise until about 1am. Thirdly, it was moving in the wrong direction to be a Leonid.

  • Fireball over the midwest last night (Score:3)

    by GoNINzo ( 32266 ) <GoNINzo.yahoo@com> on Wednesday November 17, 1999 @06:45AM (#1525434) Journal
    Last night at around 6PM CST, there was this huge fireball seen heading East from Chicago, Illinois (where i live) and was seen in Wisconsin all the way out to Ohio. This was most likely part of the meteor shower but I don't know if anything that impressive will be seen tonight. The only reason I know it wasn't a UFO is because they have an offical report [spacescience.com]

    I basically was getting out of work, looked up and saw this huge greenish fireball. it then seemed to split into 3 parts leaving a long trail behind it and was heading towards lake michigan. It took around 30 seconds to pass over me and out of sight. I was like 'whoa' and then heard people on a local radio station getting calls about it. It was really cool.

    Good news is that I think I could live with that image as my memory of the meteor shower, so that means I can actually get some sleep tonight!
    --
    Gonzo Granzeau

  • I semi understand how this works. I don't have
    a radio that will work at that frequency. Could
    I tune to a distant TV station and get the same
    effect?

  • Re:My 2 cents worth (Score:2)

    by Anonymous Coward

    First, on the astronomy side, this will be the last good Leonid meteor shower. Ever.

    Not true. There are much better showers predicted for 2001 and 2002 - have a look at this report [arm.ac.uk] - specifically the predicted "ZHR" (Zenital Hourly Rate - the number of meteors seen per hour under ideal conditions) in table 3.

  • Well.. EDT (aren't we at -500 right now?) is 10pm, EST should be at -400, 11pm.

    ---

  • Re:NYC (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Yes, I'd like to find the darkest, most open space in NYC late at night, too. Where are you going to be? Bring your wallet^H^H^H^H^H^Hbinocluars and I'll join you...
  • It could be done. If you know of any stations that are a few hundred miles away and are on a clear channel, tune to that channel and see. I would suggest VHF, there are more VHF stations to listen for.
  • What you saw was not part of the Leonids. Wrong direction. Sounds like you saw a nice bolide, but no way of knowing what it's origin was. Likely space debris.

    Any Leonid activity you see will originate from the east, after the radiant rises, which will be aprox. midnight, EST.

    Check here for info [skypub.com]

  • I witnessed something very similar in Minneapolis on Sunday night...
  • Ok .. this may be a little offtopic, but (as I am doing a paper on multicast right now) I am very interested if SOME (commercial, or cross-platform) software exists for multicast. I know there is mbone and its tools, but thats nothing for joe user.

    Especialy I am wondering WHY those big sites won't use multicast at least to some Mirrors, so that they could be much more effective.

    (I allways HATE the way those rt vids saturate our oversea lines ... )

  • I saw it as well in Illinois. It was part of the meteor shower. the direction alone can verify that (heading out of the leo sector). There's a news story [spacescience.com] about it as well, not in a local paper. When I saw it, it was one big mass, and I saw it break up into 3 pieces.
    --
    Gonzo Granzeau
  • Well, I don't have SSB, but I'm to give it my best on FM anyway. 50 Watts on a J-pole might give some intesting results, you never know.
  • Moderate this one up to Funny 3 or 4 at least!!!

    ROTFL!!!
  • I get the feeling that this is a universal phenomeon and can be seen everywhere; am I correct about this?
  • Live with that memory as something other than the Leonids, because that's what it was. Not to dispute the really cool part, 'cause I'm sure it was. :) Then again, if you have never seen a meteor shower, you will kick yourself if you have the oportunity to see what might possibly happen tonight, and decide not to.
  • If the meteor was rather large and skipping on the surface of the ion sphere, it's quite possible. I saw this phenomenon as well. And it was coming from the southeast, the direction of the Leo constelation. It just continued to head past everyone towards the northwest. And yes, it most likely was an unusual chunk of rock, with a reference here [spacescience.com] reporting it as part of the shower.

    Basically, the way the world was turned, the only debris that the midwest would see would be rocks that only skipped on the surface, due to the steep angle due to the early time. At 1 AM, we might see some short streaks due to meteors coming straight down, burning out quickly. but in this particular case, we got to see a very large one burn out slowly no the upper levels of the atomosphere, and it was quite impressive!
    --
    Gonzo Granzeau

  • The BBC is running a feature [bbc.co.uk] on this.

    They also have a story saying the viewing prospects are good [bbc.co.uk].

    Pre......

  • Want to know the best time to watch at your loc ? (Score:4)

    by M1000 ( 21853 ) on Wednesday November 17, 1999 @07:09AM (#1525461)
    Damn, I submited this tuesday and it has been rejected... Seems like Jamie stoole my post ;-) anyways, here is a link to a Java applet that can estimate your peek view: http://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/estimator.html [nasa.gov]

  • Re:My 2 cents worth (Score:3)

    by jd ( 1658 ) <imipak@ y a hoo.com> on Wednesday November 17, 1999 @07:15AM (#1525462) Homepage Journal
    WhitePine's CU-SeeMe supports multicasting, but does not use any standard protocol. Netmeeting also does, I believe. Other commercial tools do exist, but I believe you'd need to start talking serious money, to get to anything any better.

    The "standard" mbone tools (SDR, VIC and RAT) have become very usable, even for "Joe Average". There is an "integrated" environment, supplied by the University College of London (UCL), called "Relate", which merges everything together into a very simple, easy-to-use desktop.

    The big sites could very easily multicast to mirrors - they have the connections needed and the software tools. What they don't have is anything between the ears, besides sawdust.

  • It is in Europe unless they don't want you to come over. They've been able to stop large quantities of would-be visitors. :-)
  • Some good places would be Battery Park City, and the Great Lawn in Central Park, if you're not afraid of getting mugged or raped (ever see the Fisher King?).

    I personally, will probably head down to Battery Park City and camp out on one of the multiple lawns nearby Stuyvesant High School.

    • stop going out with these superficial bimbos with silicone implants;
    next:
    • start going out with techno-talking babes with silicon implants;
  • Yes, it was very bright green with gold trails coming off of it. Anyone know what element would burn bright green?
  • Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day [nasa.gov] features a nice animation of a Leonid exploding [nasa.gov] over Los Alamos, New Mexico in 1998.

  • Re:Relax (Score:3)

    by phil reed ( 626 ) on Wednesday November 17, 1999 @07:30AM (#1525470) Homepage
    anybody else think that this is a sign of the second coming of jesus?

    No, and you shouldn't either. This particular meteor storm has recurred every year, with peaks every 33 years. The last peak was 1966, and was by all accounts spectactular.

    If you're worried about the conjunction of this with the turn of the millenium, you should relax on this as well. The christian counting of years was calculated by Dennis the Short, in the mid 500s at the direction of the Pope. He worked off of events of the time that modern bible scholars and historians now know were inaccurate. The best calculations show that the birth of Jesus was 4 years earlier than Dennis calculated. Thus, the millenium really turned in 1996. You missed it.


    ...phil

  • Took the trash out and looked up and there was a fireball that was just a bit dimmer than the moon. It was in the North sky and its tail stretched longer than my house is wide - in my field of view, that is. It was very blazing and lasted a long time. Neatest celestial event I've seen since those impacts with Jupiter (? I think) a few years back. COOOL!
  • In short, NO. The effect lenoids can have on satellites can be equated to shooting it with a .22. (Remeber the movie Armageddon when the shuttle blew up ;)) There is also the concern of the "static" charge as these things go whizzing past the surface of the spacecraft. Imagine a static charge building up on your PC case...ZAP*!*!
  • Your local time doesn't matter if the cloud of dust is not there at the same time. Just before dawn is the general rule.

    The "Peak Time" being mentioned is when the comet's orbit intersects that of the Earth. From experience we know that the dust cloud is not always present at that point. The 33-year cycle is from several past observations -- the math is still being worked on.

    As was already mentioned, the dust cloud was 12-18 hours off of last year's orbital intersection. Plus or minus 12 covers a 24-hour period. Youse watches the skies, youse takes youse chances.

  • My 4-month old daughter decided to wake up at 12:30am, and I went out and watched Leo for about 20 minutes. I saw 6 Leonid meteors in that time (and two non-Leonid).

    I realize that as we enter the debris path this number will rise, but I thought people might be curious what last night was like.

  • (Score:1)

    by SEWilco ( 27983 )
    Maybe the next Chinese or Mayan millenium is the relevant date...
  • I missed it, but several people at work this morning mentioned it was the most incredible thing they saw. (People from Naperville to Elgin)

    I want to see the shower, but I live downtown, so I'm screwed from light pollution. Maybe if I go to the lake and look northeast....
  • Yeah, I live near Cleveland and they made a big broohaha about hundreds of people spottin that 'meteor' last night and how the phone lines at the News station were flooded. I wish I had seen it myself. I always miss out on things like that! Bah Humbug! One little 5 year old girl that drew a crayon representation of the event said that the 'head' was blue and the tail was like a dotted red line. I was surprised, but someone did manage to get a video of it with their camcorder. I was hoping maybe it was an alien spacecraft (being an avid xfiles fan) but when I saw the video I could tell it was nothing more than some space crap disintegrating in the atmosphere (maybe the hubble?). Oh well, I'm still hoping. I'll be out looking tonight. Think about it. If an alien spacecraft did want to spy on us without our knowing it, tonight would be the perfect night because they could use the meteor shower as cover.

  • I'm using the KPC 9612 setup described in QST...

    Do you have a link to more info about this setup? Or can you tell me what issue of QST it was in? It sounds really interesting...I wonder if I could cobble something together before tonight yet...

  • Instead of getting worked up into a lather over an application of multicast, try this:
    Turn off your monitor. Get off your ass. Go outside. Let your eyes adjust to the dark. Look up.
    IOW, see the real thing and bugger the idea that it would be better in SVGA. The only way you're going to get a decent capture of a meteor storm is with IMAX. A multicast MPEG or (gods forbid) RealVideo playing over a 30-40K connect? I'd rather watch my screensaver.

    Of course, if your locale is swaddled in clouds, you're SOL. Try again Thursday....or next year, or 2001, both of which should be as good or better.

  • A good question for anyone who lives in NYC. Couldn't one just wear a gun/AK47/large knife to ward off any potential criminals? The best way for people to stay from you is to level the playing field.
  • Copper. Which pretty much goes with the fact that it was some space junk.

  • I hope the sky won't be slashdotted tonight with too many people looking up at once.
  • What you saw was spectacular, but was not associated with the leonid shower.

    This is from the american meteor society's website:
    http://amsmeteors.org/leo99update.html

    "On Tuesday evening, locally Nov. 16, at approximately 7:07 EST / 6:07 CST (November 17, 1999, 0007 UTC), a brilliant fireball lit up the American midwest, travelling slowly from west to east, and apparently breaking apart in transit. The AMS has received reports about this event from locations across central North America, from southern Canada to northern Texas (!). Regardless of what is being reported at other web sites and in the popular press, this event could NOT have ben associated with the Leonid meteor shower. At the time of this event, North America was completely in the shadow of the Leonid stream, with the radiant located slightly east of the anti-zenith, that is, underfoot. This object is most likely a very bright sporadic fireball (of which there are a few each year of this magnitude), or perhaps reentering space debris. "

  • * You don't need binoculars or a telescope. The show is over the whole sky, and you'll miss a lot if you use them.
    However, if you want to try to get a "close up look", remember to never put your face to bare metal in the cold. :-)

    * Never lie on the bare ground. It will seep your body heat many times faster than the air will.

  • After reading the article you linked to, I see one astronomer saying "possibly space junk, but probably a meteor" and another saying "it couldn't have been a meteor, it must have been space junk." So even the experts don't seem to know what it was.
    --
  • Lets say that it is, and in the near future God will return to earth in Human form. What the hell are we going to do about it besides tremble in terror and die?? Say a few quick Hail Mary's and ask for forgivness for all those sins we have collected before God comes down to pass judgement? By now it is too late to even care because our demise would be inevitable.
  • This is a serious issue. The Space Telescope Science Institute has taken steps in the past [stsci.edu] to minimize the chance of Leonid damage to HST, orienting the aperture away from the Leonid direction. There were plans to do the same thing this year, but with the telescope in safe mode it is not possible to do the protective move. While the chances HST will be damaged are still very small, the potential loss if very high, so every bit of protection counts!
  • Sorry about that, wrong story (just goes to show you having too many windows open at once can be a probem...).
  • Yeah, whatever it was -- space junk (Mir?), a meteor, an asteroid -- it was very cool looking. I wish I'd had a camera with me, not that it would probably have gotten a very good picture.
    --
  • There are several reports on sci.astro.amateur about a large bolide in the midwest travelling NW->NE and being visible for 10-15 (some said 20) seconds. It was apparently an Earth-grazer, which accounts for its long duration. Whether it was a Leonid is in question (one observer puts the origin in Serpens Caput), but who cares - sounds spectacular from all accounts. I'm jealous.

  • Woo, a spelling flame. Finally, I get to plug this little-known fact:

    I'm not a native English speaker. You try writing French as well as I write English. Hah!

    "The wages of sin is death but so is the salary of virtue, and at least the evil get to go home early on Fridays."

  • It will be fairly impressive. So impressive that the news was reporting that police stations were being deluged with calls reporting alien invasions and crashing planes. Man, I love this state.
  • as it breaks up near Cincinnati.

    click here [fox19.com]
  • This works in many areas, but not in NYC, where law-abiding citizens are not allowed to defend themselves.
  • Wouldn't they have moved it before putting it in safe mode, knowing that the meteor storm is coming, and that they won't have the satellite fixed in time? Surely one of the bright people at NASA would have realized this.

  • There are some wonderful websites already up discussing the shower (possible storm)

    See http://www.leonidslive.com for NASA's webcast and frequently updated meteor counts. BTW- there are some great tips on observing at this site, plus a number of star charts and data sheets, should you want to submit your observations.

    Two other sites that I like are http://www.leonidstorm.com and http://www.space.com

    Maybe we'll get lucky this year. Next year it looks like the Moons phase and location is going to really hamper any observations.

  • As I was driving home from work last night, I saw a string of fireballs streaking through the sky in the vicinity of Dulles Airport (I was on RT28 heading towards Sterling, Va). They were larger than any I've ever seen before and lasted for nearly a minute before burning out. It made my night.

    Chris
  • Hmm ... proving once again that "military intelligence" is an oxymoron since the "hypersonic robot scramjet plane" was last seen heading for the Atlantic... ;-)
    --
  • > The only reason I know it wasn't a
    > UFO is because they have an offical report

    ... and you've just admitted that on SLASHDOT ? Good grief ... so now there are geek UFO freaks ... coming soon :

    • "Get rich quick -- the Geek Way !",
    • "If you receive an email with the subject line "Geek Times", delete it immediately-- it will erase your hard disk ...
    • Jesus was a Space Geek !
    • The lost geeks of Atlantis


      • --

  • No, it went into safe mode automatically when
    it lost the last gyroscope. My understanding is that since astronomical observations can't be done with two gyros, there simply wasn't provision made in the software for two-gyro manuevers. So it is incapacitated until the shuttle flight in December (which is itself being squeezed between wiring problems at one end and Y2K compliance concerns at the other).
  • I'm not gonna watch it...

    remember the day of the comet and day of the triffids!!!????

    I'm running for hills, its NOT safe!!!

    LOL :-)

  • I e-mailed them last time & this, and their response was a long-winded "no, bugger off".
  • The weather was not good, so I didn't go to a dark site, however I got to see a fair chunk (perhaps 1/4) of the sky through a hole in clouds from 4 am to 4:15 am NZDT this morning (=Nov 17 15:00 UT). I saw no meteors during this time.
  • Wait, is the math wrong on that? If we are at -5, doesn't that mean that 2am UTC is 5 hours "earlier" for EDT? Which would be 9pm, no?
  • The view is supposed to the best from Israel and Spain.They showed a NASA aircraft getting ready for observation here (Israel).
  • The article says it will happen at 12:30 "local time" without ever explaining what it is. What the fuck do they mean by "local time"??? When is it (EST)???
  • "is supposed to be between 11 PM and 1 AM (EST?)"

    As I read the articles, the peak is expected to be EARLIER than that time, but below the horizon. The point in the sky that these radiate from rises about 11 PM local time, and the moon sets about 1 AM providing better contrast in a darker sky.

    In the sky, the peak is 4:15 UT (GMT)(with lots of hand-waving about +/- as much as 12 hours). In North America, you need to wait till Leo rises, and perhaps till the moon sets, so you can see what's left of a waning show.
  • I live in the Pacific Northwest (U.S.), where clear skies are rare and fleeting at any time of the year. Last winter this area had something like 90 straight days of rain. At the moment, the sky is clear but there's about a 95% chance we'll have clouds by tonight. I would love to see the Leonids, but I have no way to control the weather. Even if I could, the shower is likely to be much weaker on this side of the world than it is in Europe or even the East Coast; like most, I don't have the resources to travel that far just to see a light show. My point: don't tell someone off just because he wants to watch the meteor shower through whatever means possible. A video of it is better than nothing at all.

    (Of course, if the sky is anything close to clear (ie not actually raining), I'll be out in the nearest open and away from lights area hoping for a show!)

  • I just thought I would mention this since we've been having such a strange winter so far. Here in Phoenix Arizona, it's November 17, and we're still hitting 90 degrees outside. I think mother nature is confused or something. I'm still sweating as I walk between classes during the day.

    The Upside to that is, of course, that I don't have to worry about it being cold outside. I don't even need a jacket at night yet!

  • Re:Peak viewing (Score:3)

    by CaptainPhong ( 83963 ) on Wednesday November 17, 1999 @12:45PM (#1525531) Homepage
    The peak IS supposed to be between 9-10pm EST (2am UT), but the shower is unviewable at that time from the US. Because of the position of the radiant (near the constellation Leo), very few meteors can be seen prior to midnight (local time) and the viewing isn't at its best until after 2am, and improves until dawn. The best part of the world for viewing that is the Middle East, Eastern and Northern Europe, and Africa. However, in the past, predictions for this particular shower have been way off base (18 hours late in the case of the 66 shower, and 12 early in case of last year's). If it arrives 3-9 hours late, the eastern US will be one of the best spots. You'll want to start viewing as early as possible (just before midnight), since (if the predictions are right)the most meteors will be falling then. However, there's no telling if this will be an amazing year like the '66 shower (dozens of meteors per second at the peak), or if it will be just a nice shower (50-200 meteors per hour). Check out http://www.leonidslive.com/
  • "Local time" means you can ignore time zones - when it's 12:30am wherever you happen to be will be the best time for you.


    ...phil
  • The fireball was bright not so much because of size as because it was an Earth-grazer. It wasn't like normal Leonid debris where the Earth basically slams into a cloud of tiny pebbles (think of driving through a bunch of no-see-ums); this was something that was travelling roughly in Earth's orbit and slowly grazed along the upper reaches of the atmosphere. It was in the far North, which suggests a slower planetary rotation time, as well.

    Bolides like this don't always break up, either. There was one a year or two ago (in the Southwest?) that was seen by thousands of people during daylight, but the trace it left suggested that it passed through and then left our atmosphere again.

    Space junk is usually travelling pretty fast (90 minute orbit, compared with 24 hrs for the ground just a couple hundred miles below). We know about the big space junk (Cheyenne Mountain keeps close track of it); this doesn't sound much like a satellite orbit to me. It's possible, though.
    ----
    Lake Effect [wwa.com], a weblog
  • It's an incantation I hit accidentally. I promptly reported it. Apparently it still hasn't been fixed, but seems to do no harm. I apply it when appropriate. Fear not, I only use it for good.

    And this is another example of a discussion which should be in a SlashdotTalk discussion page, if there were one for us to discuss /. in...

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