Comments on: 2006 Leonids

2006 Leonids

ztdavis — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 18:00:02 -0800

When the Earth passes through the remains of the comet Tempel-Tuttle this coming weekend, the peak of the Leonid meteor shower this year will be this coming Friday night. This year, however, "astronomers are predicting an unusual outburst of meteor activity" of 100-600 meteors per hour between 11:45 PM and 1:33 AM EST on the night of Saturday, November 18th and long before the moon rises. While not as exciting as past years, it should be a great night for a meteor shower.

By: ztdavis

ztdavis — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 18:01:31 -0800

This is my first post, and I'm so nervous I think I'm going to go hide from the internets for a while.

By: matty

matty — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 18:04:20 -0800

Don't be nervous - it's a great post! Thanks for the info!! Due to your research I plan to be outside with a martini and a lawn chair on Saturday night!

By: cortex

cortex — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 18:07:07 -0800

*commits ruthless acts of hazing*

By: ernie

ernie — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 18:08:30 -0800

WTF is this, AstronomyFilter? Dude! J/K cool post, thanks for the heads up!

By: Falconetti

Falconetti — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 18:09:32 -0800

Good post. Does anyone know whether someone would be able to see this from Washington, DC. I couldn't figure that out from the links (and I'm ignorant).

By: unreason

unreason — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 18:10:27 -0800

Nice post!

By: ztdavis

ztdavis — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 18:14:24 -0800

Falconetti: yes, as long as the skies are clear and you can find a place with little light pollution.

By: Pollomacho

Pollomacho — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 18:29:21 -0800

Anybody want to tell us if this will be visible on the other side of the world at any time?

By: Pollomacho

Pollomacho — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 18:31:11 -0800

Oh, and Falconetti, this might be a great time to head out to the Eastern Shore for a little off season camping trip (if it's clear).

By: HighTechUnderpants

HighTechUnderpants — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 18:35:06 -0800

Cool post. So is there much point in checking this out if we live on the West coast of the US? Or will it only be cool for the other coast/Europe/Africa?

By: jamjam

jamjam — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 18:36:07 -0800

Fine post!

By: neuron

neuron — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 18:36:18 -0800

I stayed up all night for the Leonid shower of 1998. I went about 25 miles out of town to get some nice dark sky. I saw about 500 meteors. They were huge, with vapor trails typically lasting for 30 seconds. Many were audible. Since then, there hasn't been a forecast for such a good meteor storm. This year is tempting, but western Oregon in November is not a place for meteor showers. Sigh.

By: dhartung

dhartung — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 18:41:00 -0800

HTU: Western US is fine. It's roughly Greenwich east that will have a problem seeing it due to that nemesis of astronomy, daytime. Good first post, ztdavis!

By: nyxxxx

nyxxxx — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 19:00:12 -0800

It'll be like Night of the Comet! Everyone get in their steel lined bunkers! You did remember to build a steel lined bunker, didn't you? Uh-oh.

By: Pollomacho

Pollomacho — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 19:34:24 -0800

I never planned in my imagination A situation so heavenly. A fairy land where no one else could enter And in the center, Just you and me. My heart beat like a hammer. My arms wound around you tight And stars fell on Alabama last night.

By: phooky

phooky — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 20:18:07 -0800

Pollomacho: Twenty years after that song was written, stars did indeed fall on Alabama. In particular, on Ann Hodges. Spooky!

By: strawberryviagra

strawberryviagra — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 20:24:03 -0800

What's the deal with the ISS during a meteor shower? Is it somehow calculated that every time there's scheduled meteor activity that it's located in the lee of the planet? Strike me down with your superior knowledge, starfuckers!

By: spock

spock — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 21:51:46 -0800

Not a bad first post. Your last link in particular to the last great meteor STORM in 1966. Colorado astrophotographer Gary Emerson captured the fury of the great 1966 Leonid meteor storm, the most spectacular storm of the 20th Century. This image was taken over 20 minutes and records only the brightest meteors. At the storm's peak, Emerson says he saw thousands of meteors per second. It was one hell of a show, he said. The Leonids also produced the Great Storm of 1833. (Read a first hand account) There are 4 different models predicting the peak (and the possibility of a storm by at least one of them) but anyone who has done it knows that meteor showers are a crap shoot. You go where you can get clear, dark skies and you watch (regardless of where the predictions for the peak is). You might just get the treat of a lifetime, and if not its still a great show.

By: spock

spock — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 21:57:59 -0800

There is supposed to be no danger to the ISS. In fact they got to see a meteor shower from above. Satellites can get sandblasted, however. The far greater hazard, believe it or not, is "the potential for electrical short circuits when the impact from a dust grain forms a plasma cloud around a satellite." NASA provides "situational awareness" to satellite operators.

By: ztdavis

ztdavis — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 21:59:07 -0800

Thanks, spock, I was looking for a good image.

By: strawberryviagra

strawberryviagra — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 22:33:00 -0800

Only one impact recorded even during a rain of 150,000 an hour, or a 1 in 1 million chance of direct impact with a piece of dust travelling at 74kms per second. Crazy vast vacuum of space.

By: algreer

algreer — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 04:45:43 -0800

Happy memories being a kid in the countryside, staying up late with a flask of tea watching meteor showers outside! Alas living in a city I can't see anything now. Check out the wikipedia list of meteor showers Oh and if you're looking for anything else in the night sky Stellarium is the nuts.

By: Civil_Disobedient

Civil_Disobedient — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 04:51:35 -0800

I think I'm going to go hide from the internets for a while. This being the 14th, and the comet's tail not due for another 4 days, you are in the clear! If you had saved this post for the 19th, however, you could expect an army of amateur MeFi astrogazers at your door. Don't laugh, it's happened before. Thanks for the heads up!

By: pax digita

pax digita — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 07:56:07 -0800

I [heart] ztdavis. Nice first post. Sadly, I don't think we'll get very clear wx in mid-Ohio -- forecast is overcast/rain. Too bad; these things are worth a drive and a flirt with hypothermia to watch. I remember a tremendous Perseid (I think it was) shower back around '99 or so. Usu. if you plan ahead, you can always scout out someplace to park out of town where there are few/no lights, and most cops are pretty understanding if you tell 'em why you're lying out on the hood of your car on a rural roadside.

By: Kino

Kino — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 09:15:25 -0800

[00:39] [skOt] brb

By: spock

spock — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 09:50:49 -0800

skOt just did it wrong. The right way.

By: Sprout the Vulgarian

Sprout the Vulgarian — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 10:14:48 -0800

Oh, man I loved that movie, Night of the Comet. So bad it's good.

By: Effigy2000

Effigy2000 — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 10:54:53 -0800

Will this be a US only meteor shower or will Australia get to see it too?

By: premortem

premortem — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 11:16:33 -0800

From the Leonid Wiki article: "...spikes in activity in 2004 were associated with streams from passages of the Comet Tempel-Tuttle in 1333 and 1733..." Thats not how it works is it? Maybe I'm reading it wrong, but the meteor shower happens when the Earth passes through the comet's tail. Not from us passing through its tail hundreds of years ago.

By: cortex

cortex — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 11:28:16 -0800

Well, if it's tail has gotten a bit long and scattery over time, then we might well pass through the place-where-the-comet-passed each year as we orbit the sun, yes? Note: I am not a cosmologist.

By: odinsdream

odinsdream — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 11:53:48 -0800

premortem, the tail debris is a trail, and each time the comet orbits, it leaves a new one.

By: joeblough

joeblough — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 12:39:42 -0800

They were huge, with vapor trails typically lasting for 30 seconds. Many were audible. did the sound match closely with the meteor? there's no way that the sound would match given how far away the meteors are and the difference between the speed of sound and the speed of light. however, you're not crazy. it's believed that the meteors are producing electromagnetic radiation in the 1-20khz range - the same range as the human ear hears sound waves. grasses, buildings, etc. can actually serve as transducers to convert these waves to sound, and that's why you hear the meteor at the same time you see it. weird, wild stuff. and thanks for the post.

By: grumblebee

grumblebee — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 14:54:27 -0800

Is there any way a Manhattanite without a car could see the shower via public transportation?

By: allkindsoftime

allkindsoftime — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 15:53:08 -0800

grumblebee - catch an NJ transit train from Penn Station. you can go almost anywhere, but I'd choose a rural-ish town about 30-40 minutes out of Manhattan (ie. not a big stop like Morristown or something). i only say this because i've been out to some of my company's offices via train, and coming back at night it was friggin dark. murray hill and florham park - you shouldn't have to walk far from either stop to have great views, just check the schedules coming back. that said, i'm flagging this spacenewsfilter post. (kidding, now i'm planning an after-date-date with the gf - thanks!)

By: neuron

neuron — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 20:43:38 -0800

>> Many were audible. > Did the sound match closely with the meteor? Yes, indeed. The sounds would be essentially simultaneous with the meteor and from the same direction, as I recall. You make a good point about distances and speed of sound; I'm just tellin' ya what I observed. Was the induced atmospheric ionization creating EM waves that my auditory nerve was picking up? I seriously doubt it. (As a physicist/radio engineer/physician, I should be able to figure this out, but I'm too sleepy right now.)

By: joeblough

joeblough — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 23:32:22 -0800

no, i dont think that your auditory nerves pick up the EM directly... i've heard that grass is a likely transducer, and i'd wager that it would work electrostatically... though the field strength to turn grass into an electrostatic speaker would have to be pretty dang high. anyway, the exact mechanism for 'meteor audio' is a topic of some debate. or at least that's what teh google seems to indicate.

By: Shave

Shave — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 05:54:04 -0800

4.50am - Hat, scarf and ~~uppers~~ dedication required to see it in Scotland. I shall give it a try. Thanks for the heads up.

By: Acey

Acey — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 08:04:53 -0800

If anyone can give any information about which countries will get to see the shower and at what times, I think we'd all appreciate it. I'm in England and I would love to see this.

By: sidereal

sidereal — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 18:30:00 -0800

Thanks, ztdavis! I would have hated to miss this!

By: ztdavis

ztdavis — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 21:26:23 -0800

Acey: dhartung posted a link up above that should answer your question. It seems like roughly 4:45 AM is peak time for your neck of the woods.

By: jamjam

jamjam — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 08:59:11 -0800

The Aurora Borealis has made a noise in the ears of many observers. If grass is the source of the sound, it would almost have to be high voltage discharge from the needle tips of the blades. If the Aurora and meteor showers can produce a noise via an electromagnetic field, wouldn't you expect the same from lightning? As I try to review my memories of a handful of times lightning has struck within 50-100 yards of me, I actually do seem to recall a high pitched tearing sound preceding the boom by a fraction of a second, but I've never previously thought the delay would require much of an explanation.

By: sonofsamiam

sonofsamiam — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 09:47:51 -0800

i've heard that grass is a likely transducer, and i'd wager that it would work electrostatically Holy crap, that's amazing!

By: luminous phenomena

luminous phenomena — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 15:47:29 -0800

For those who still aren't sure where they can view the Leonids, take a peek here.

By: yupislyr

yupislyr — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 21:40:50 -0800

You're far better off waiting for the Geminids in December. Or better yet, the Perseids next August

By: HyperBlue

HyperBlue — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 00:15:58 -0800

Didn't see anything spectacular at the proscribed time from 35.551571, -97.556318 between 11:30pm and 12:20am CT. Might have been some light pollution, but I've seen meteors before in the park across the street. meh.

By: HyperBlue

HyperBlue — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 00:20:51 -0800

~~proscribed~~ prescribed

By: ztdavis

ztdavis — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 08:17:22 -0800

It was cloudy for me, so I didn't see jack squat.

By: Falconetti

Falconetti — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 09:59:11 -0800

It was cloudy and I didn't see shit. I even had people come over for a little Leonid meteor watching party on my roof. Fuck meteors!

By: lyam

lyam — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 05:24:02 -0800

I saw 3, from my peripheral vision, after watching for 15 minutes or so. Somewhat unspectacular.