Leonid Meteor Shower 2002 193
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."
What did you get for your birthday? (Score:1, Interesting)
Now or never! (Score:5, Interesting)
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 [skyandtelescope.com] 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!
American Literature Quiz -- Cormac McCarthy (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
Humidity and Visibility (Score:3, Interesting)
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?
Re:DO NOT LOOK at THE METEOR SHOWER! (Score:2, Interesting)
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.
Re:Last year? (Score:2, Interesting)
I actually thought the same thing. The Leonide shower is a yearly event due to dust located on earths track. Now some years ago a comet passed on this track and released new dust (much dust), so it was really spectacular last year or the year before. This happens every 33 years. In China people really observed a meteor thunderstorn, like 3600 meteors/h. I've seen some great long-exposition photos. (no, you don't call it a shot
This year you should expect to see far less meteors, much closer to the usual "background" levels. Still it could happen that some dust was left on the track or has re-arranged so it'll be there exactly when your country is at night. I was very unlucky when I tried to observe the shower - for I slept and only saw 2 - but my wishes came true: girlfriend and job... but it took some long time to fullfill. So good luck with the shower then.
Re:Last year? (Score:3, Interesting)