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Space Science

Meet The Leonids 271

Posted by timothy from the too-bad-about-the-mooning dept.
Kathy Miles writes "The Leonid meteor shower is promising to be a 'once in a lifetime event.' It's not hard to photograph meteors, a simple 35mm camera that you can lock open the shutter on works fine. Here's complete instructions for 35mm, video and digital cameras.And, on the same site is information such as lore and myth, best way to watch meteors and times and skymaps for all US timezones. Happy Meteor watching!" And Geert Barentsen writes "As the adrenaline for the final Leonid meteor storm (November 19th) rises, one site seems to do a call to everybody to count the meteor activity and help science. With a few thousand meteors predicted per hour, it's going to be a busy night for true geeks :-)" Kevin Smolkowski writes "For the second year in a row, NASA will have Live Coverage of the 2002 Leonid meteor storm on Monday. Perfect for those of you surrounded by city lights. The all night show is hosted by NASA astronomers. They'll offer observing tips, answer phone calls from sky watchers, and tour the skies with a video camera located at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama." Update: 11/18 22:40 GMT by T : McGravin writes "Everyone should also keep an ear on the extraplanetary visitors, too. I'm going to go add some ear-flaps to the tin foil helmet that protects my brain from them, so I can hear the meteors."
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Meet The Leonids More

Meet The Leonids

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  • This year's once-in-a-lifetime event (Score:4, Insightful)

    by RangerSpeedBumpp ( 250645 ) on Monday November 18, 2002 @05:21PM (#4701601) Homepage
    Wasn't last year's Leonid meteor shower also a once-in-a-lifetime event? I thought this was more like an ~80-times-in-a-lifetime thing.

    • Re:This year's once-in-a-lifetime event (Score:5, Informative)

      by Big Mark ( 575945 ) on Monday November 18, 2002 @05:27PM (#4701672)
      It really IS this time. It's gonna be a big one, as the trail of comet debris (left kindly by Tempel-Tuttle, IIRC) that forms this shower is really, really close this year, and it won't be remotely as good for another thirty years or so after the debris trails start getting further away from the Earth's orbit. Not exactly once-in-a-lifetime, but still. I like meteors.

      Speaking of which, it's 10:30PM here. I'm off to the beach to watch things and drink flasks of tea.
    • I just got back in (Tues. morning here in Japan,) after having not seen a single one. (Worst combination of time, location, moon, clouds.)

      Last year was amazing... :-(
    • One per second for a couple hours in Colorado on morning of the 18th in 2001.
    • The next time Earth will pass through a thick part of the Tempel-Tuttle comet's tail will be in 2099. There will still be Leonid showers every year, just not as spectacular until then.
    • Well... I set my alarm so that I could watch it. (Just got home...)
      Would have been a real shame to miss it, since I guess I'll be around 50 - 60 next time it happens if I'm not misstaken.

      There was som *real* nice once.
      Amoung others a double fireball on each side of a bright star and one that left a trail that spanned more than half my field of vision.
      Really beautiful. *sigh*
      Wish I could have filmed it.
      But then came the evil clouds and blocked my view, so I went home. :-(

      Btw!
      You know that you can make a wish when you see a shooting star!
      So what did *you* wish for? =-)

      My wish, with every blazing trail, was to pass my math exams in december and januari. ;-)

      Now I'm going to catch some sleep before going to school. Starts 13:15 today. Lucky me.
      Oyasumi nasai minna.

    • Well, spent the early part of the morning on the roof. I'm in the middle of the Med, and there was a clear sky. roused the wife and kid as well, and we all stayed watching. There was significant light pollution, but the show was still okay - my boy loved it (2.5 yrs) - kept running around shouting "Fireworks!, Fireworks!" ;-) - I counted maybe 1 per minute.

  • See this while you can. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Jasn ( 106824 ) on Monday November 18, 2002 @05:21PM (#4701608)
    If you're not surrounded by insane light pollution ... make a point of watching this while you can. It may not be the same for years, maybe decades ...

  • Is it just me? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Jason1729 ( 561790 )
    Or is the Leonid shower billed as "once in a lifetime" every year?

  • Tip for Photography (Score:5, Informative)

    by frostgiant ( 243045 ) on Monday November 18, 2002 @05:22PM (#4701616)
    I have done astro photos before and here is good tip when using a SLR camera:
    To avoid wobbling the camera as you press the cable to start the exposure, just hold up a sheet of black paper in front of the lens. After the cable is dangling freely, remove the paper. When depressing the cable, do the same.

    Also, for anyone with a Sony DV camera, the AE Candel Light mode works great for filming the showers.
    • I fogged a lot of film last year with way-too-long exposures. When you get one of those persistant fire trails, it's time to close the shutter and advance the film. And a good fireball doesn't even have to be in-frame to do this, I had a few off axis sparklers that caused some major lense artifacts (although some of those turned out to be *really* good prints unintentionally). If the artifacting bothers your sense of purity, use a big lens hood.

      • Re:Tip for Photography (Score:3, Informative)

        by ai0524 ( 1952 )
        You probably fogged the film by not covering the viewfinder. With an SLR camera light can get to the film from the viewfinder. This is not a problem when you take pictures normally as your eye keeps light out. However when making long exposures with a tripod this isn't true. You should cover the viewfinder with the proper cap or something else when making long exposures. The web site mention in the article about making exposures probably mentions this but I cannot reach it at this time.


        Have fun! Remember to take different exposures (exposure bracketing) to make sure that you get a good exposure. Expose one stop in both directions from the calculated exposure.

    • Mirror lockup... set the camera's self-timer on a fully manual or use the option on an automatic...

    • Re:Tip for Photography (Score:3, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      If you don't use a digital camera, make sure to clearly label your photographs as "astronomy" or "nighttime" or something like that. Many a beginning astonomy photographer has lost a batch of pictures due to the people developing it thinking they were all bad...
    • Also, for anyone with a Sony DV camera, the AE Candel Light mode works great for filming the showers

      I don't know about you, but i'd rather use one of those x-ray/night vision filters when filming at the showers.
    • Or use the timer (like when taking a group photo).

  • when I spent three hours laying on my back on a sleeping bag looking into the cloudless northern Arizona sky only to see eight super no-big-deal falling stars. What a waste of time due to net hype - I can't believe I'm going to do it again.

  • Sucks in Seattle (Score:3, Informative)

    by Torinaga-Sama ( 189890 ) on Monday November 18, 2002 @05:23PM (#4701623) Homepage
    Yesterday was beautiful and I was hopeful but today is looking pretty crappy.

    Damn Washington weather is depriving me of the show of a lifetime.

    On a better note I will get a full nights sleep.

    • There's still time- it's only 2:30PM- get your windbreaker and sweatpants and climb Mt. Rainier to get above the clouds!

  • Finally! (Score:4, Funny)

    by FPhlyer ( 14433 ) on Monday November 18, 2002 @05:24PM (#4701631) Homepage
    Everyone said I was crazy when I moved 30 miles out from the city. Now, with no city lights, I'll have a perfect view of the shower! Won't all of my friends be jealous! ...Oh yeah. None of my friends care about meteor showers...

  • Taking photos. (Score:5, Funny)

    by James_G ( 71902 ) <james.globalmegacorp@org> on Monday November 18, 2002 @05:24PM (#4701638)
    A very wise thing for you to do is to go out on a clear night BEFORE the Leonids peak and experiment with film and find a good place to set up.

    Well shit. It's a bit late for that now. Oh well, I'll try and remember that in 30 years when the next one comes around.

  • What a bunch of sickos! (Score:3, Funny)

    by L. VeGas ( 580015 ) on Monday November 18, 2002 @05:25PM (#4701652) Homepage Journal
    Well, I have to admit that watching Leonid Breezhnev take a shower is not something that you can see everyday, but I think I'll pass anyway, thank you.

  • Wrong audience (Score:5, Funny)

    by flatface ( 611167 ) on Monday November 18, 2002 @05:25PM (#4701653)
    Asking Slashdotters.. To go outside.. I don't know if this is an insult or a mistake.

    • Phew! (Score:5, Funny)

      by Subcarrier ( 262294 ) on Monday November 18, 2002 @05:39PM (#4701784)
      Asking Slashdotters.. To go outside.. I don't know if this is an insult or a mistake.

      So that's what this is all about? All this talk about a shower was making me nervous.
    • I actually thought to myself... "Well, I should be getting off work around then. Might have to work an extra hour or two."

      I didn't mind 100 hour weeks. When they were spaced out. And I was paid. Overtime.
    • Not all of us here are fat slobs, munching cheesy-poofs in front of the CRT! I spent the weekend with my Texas Army National Guard [army.mil] unit in the field. We're an infantry unit so there wasn't much sitting around the office. On Saturday night, I got a great view of meteor showers while I was doing a nighttime land navigation [logicsouth.com] course. Speaking of meteors (and since that is our topic here), you're not out of luck if you don't make it out tonight or tomorrow. They've been falling in great numbers for the past few weeks.

  • Links for each time zone: (Score:5, Informative)

    by c0dedude ( 587568 ) on Monday November 18, 2002 @05:27PM (#4701668)
    Eastern Time Zone [starryskies.com]
    Western Time Zone [starryskies.com]
    Mountain Time Zone [starryskies.com]
    Pacific Time Zone [starryskies.com]

  • I'm impressed (Score:4, Funny)

    by sys49152 ( 100346 ) on Monday November 18, 2002 @05:28PM (#4701682)
    For the second year in a row, NASA will have Live Coverage of the 2002 Leonid meteor storm

    I wonder how they did this last year. Or did Nasa finally perfect its tachyon transceiver?

  • Uhhh.. (Score:2, Funny)

    by unicron ( 20286 )
    ...at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama.

    "Uh..oh, I did it wrong again. "Break one-nine." Houston! It's dark as crap up here. Ed's done busted out the capsule window trying to hit a satelite with a beer bottle and you need to instruct us on unclogging the toilet because they ate all the freeze-dried chili and they're tore up something fierce.
    • Have you seen From the Earth to the Moon? Undoubtedly, the astronauts have a 2-hour checklist already prepared for unclogging the toilet. It's highly likely that it's initiated automatically upon completion of the "eat freeze-dried chili" checklist.

  • poor kid (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 18, 2002 @05:29PM (#4701685)

    Anybody notice the stock photo in the NASA page? This picture. [nasa.gov] I think it's supposed to representing watching TV, but it's really a sad social commentary.

    Here's a young boy, ready to go outside and move and run and play. He's got his cap on, and he's got his football under his arm.

    But instead of choosing to play in the sun and use the arms and legs nature gave him to enjoy himself, he sits sullen and emotionless in front of a TV.

    He chooses the bland garbage spewed forth by the corporate-run media, enticing him to stay on the couch, not to question authority, not take care of his health. They hope to sell him fast food, video games, and heart medication when he grows up.

    Really quite sad.

    Alternate explanation #1:

    This poor little girl wants to play with her dolls and talk with her friends. But her father is a violent man, who regrets never having had a son before his wife's untimely demise. He forces her to hold a football and watch the game on TV. If she resists, she is soundly beaten. She quietly assumes the role of the son her father never had.

    Really quite sad.

    Alternate Explanation #2:

    It's raining and the game was just cancelled.

    Really quite sad.

    • you know, on the TV screen...
    • Alternate Explanation #3:

      This poor little alien is trapped. It has chosen the most innocuous, uninteresting, and non-threatening shape it can imagine, that of an indigenous life form with the appearance of box emitting a peaceful glow.

      And yet the threatening native steadfastly refuses to wander away, instead choosing to squat and stare at it in ominous silence, fingering the obvious weapon tucked under its left upper appendage and no doubt mentally rehearsing several of its favorite ways of committing murder, each more violent and gruesome than the rest.

      The little alien is gazing back in desperation, afraid to make the smallest move.

      Really quite sad.

  • Other event will make viewing difficult (Score:3, Informative)

    by DalTech ( 575476 ) on Monday November 18, 2002 @05:29PM (#4701690)
    Other that light pollution which will make viewing difficult for most city dwellers, we will have to contend with a full moon. Your best bet is to look towards the northwest or southwest to diminish the glare of the moon.

  • Good night to test radio propagation (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Nonillion ( 266505 ) on Monday November 18, 2002 @05:30PM (#4701693)
    This will provide some interesting propagation on the VHF and UHF ham bands. Hopefully I'll be able to stay awake long enough to work a few stations on the ionized trails the meteors leave behind..
    • What are the best modes/subbands for this? I have access to an all mode V/U rig, and I went down before to see if I could hear anything. Didn't come across much, but pretty much all of my DX has been on HF, so I'm not even sure what to look for. I know HSCW is supposed to be good, but I don't have time (nor energy) to get set up for that. What do you recommend?

      -N9ZT

  • hahah... (Score:4, Funny)

    by TheGreenGoogler ( 618700 ) on Monday November 18, 2002 @05:31PM (#4701705) Journal
    "For the second year in a row, NASA will have Live Coverage of the 2002 Leonid meteor storm on Monday" How exactly can you have 2 years of coverage of the 2002 Leonid meteor storm?

  • Crappy Moon (Score:3, Informative)

    by Keighvin ( 166133 ) on Monday November 18, 2002 @05:34PM (#4701735)
    As has already been pointed out, there will be a full moon. Not only that, but at the peak viewing hours for the western continent inhabitants (especially those in North America) that pesky full moon will be almost exactly centered in the most active region for viewing.

    Only the best and brightest will be visible, and though there's predicted to be more of them this year than typically the effect will be diminished by the lunar glow to a fairly typical rendition.

    • Re:Crappy Moon (Score:2, Informative)

      by JordoCrouse ( 178999 )
      I don't wanna be a dick, but according to this:
      [starryskies.com]
      http://starryskies.com/leonids/star-charts-mst.h tm l

      The moon will be directly opposite Leo in the sky. Seems like its the optimal viewing position (at least given the circumstances).

      But then again, IANAA (I am Not An Astronomer).

  • Great from a plane (Score:4, Interesting)

    by YetAnotherAnonymousC ( 594097 ) on Monday November 18, 2002 @05:35PM (#4701745)
    I happened to be on a flight a few years ago (I think 1999) when it was a good year for the meteor shower. The show is even more fantastic from up above the clouds. The many colors you could pick out easily paid for the fare of the flight by itself, not that I planned it that way.

    Too bad I can't justify getting up in a plane this year for the shower.

    • I've seen this a few times, actually. My last three trips to Indianapolis (I live in Oklahoma City), I've seen meteors either while flying to or from Indy. The first trip was a year ago, and I saw them between St. Louis and Terre Haute; the second was in September, and I saw them between St. Louis and Springfield, MO; the third was last weekend, and I saw them just as I was leaving Springfield, MO. It's absolutely amazing to see; on two different occasions, I've seen meteors, pulsing green, pass through my altitude. Truly stunning. Matter of fact, it inspired me to write a column [barefootclown.net] about meteors. I'm not going flying tonight, but I am going to go watch the showers; I encourage everybody else to do so as well.

  • According to this NASA webpage [nasa.gov], "The 2nd-best way to watch the Leonids. A royalty-free image from corbis.com."
  • Will anyone from San Diego (or thereabouts) be checking this out? I'm considering taking my jeep out to Ocotillo Wells (out past Julian on the 78.) If anyone is interested in a convoy, lemme know. I went out there a couple years ago (Summer 2000) for a shower and it was a good time.

    It's desert, but folks with cars have no problems getting there. Luckily the sand is well packed, 4-wheel drive is not necessary (though to go beyond the dunes it is highly recommended.)

    --
    [McP]KAAOS

  • darkness (Score:2, Informative)

    by Malicious ( 567158 )
    Even if you live in the heart of a city, or near the heart of a city, sitting in an unlit soccer/football field, can be better than your backyard. Lights directly overhead will create far more glare, than lights from afar. Granted, you're not going to get nearly the show people in outlying counties will, but you'll get a better show than you would sitting under a street light.

    As far as seating goes, i've always found the most success, lying on a blanket [even with a foot of snow on the ground], as opposed to a lawnchair, because no matter how far back you lean in a lawn chair, your neck will be sore from craning in the morning.

  • Hey, I live in the heart of Southern California. Anyone got any tips of where I can drive to tonight to actually see the sky?

    For the last big meteor shower, I drove east for over an hour before I could start to see stars, and then parked in a private driveway to see.

  • I have a seven-month old baby girl/early morning alarm clock so was fortunate enough to be woken at 2.30am but sadly hardly any were visible here in Auckland... even with clear skies. The moon wasn't too much of a problem either - very bright but far enough removed that it didn't blot out the part of the sky (north east) that I was watching. Saw one or two though... Hope you enjoy it in the north you lucky dogs.
  • You can also hear the meteors as they whiz past Earth.

    They disrupt radio frequencies and cause them to rebound back into Earth's atomosphere.

    This experiment [estec.esa.nl] back in 1999 did just that. I realize this is dated but you can listen to them youself.

    ...use your FM receiver with an external aerial. Try to find a station a long way away (that's the difficult bit, as usually a nearby station gets in the way). Under normal circumstances the transmission should be difficult or impossible to detect, but when a meteor intervenes the signal jumps over the horizon and a brief fragment of the transmission can be heard. Depending on the type of transmission, it might sound like a tone, a fragment of music or voice, or simply noise. Contact lasts for as long as the meteor train persists, usually from 100 milliseconds to a few seconds.
  • The first link promises "complete instructions for 35mm, video and digital cameras," but the page actually consists of complete instructions for 35mm cameras, and advice along the lines of "video and digital cameras probably won't work, but go ahead and try them."

  • Here's the site to give you the best time to view (Score:4, Informative)

    by Phoenix-kun ( 458418 ) on Monday November 18, 2002 @06:55PM (#4702367) Homepage
    Go to this site [nasa.gov] to determine the best viewing time for your location and the predicted count.
  • It seems like every year since 1998 they've been predicting the best meteor shower ever. *jaded* Ah, it appears this will be the last one. Perhaps I will get up at 4AM again. I did it last year and it was really impressive -- even the view from our window was something.

  • one in five (Score:3, Informative)

    by Veteran ( 203989 ) on Monday November 18, 2002 @08:07PM (#4702788)
    For any individual viewer observing the Meteor Shower is a safe event; the risk of damage from a meteor is much lower than the chance of being eaten by a bear during the same time frame.

    However - for the Earth as a whole that is not true. If one of the meteors which broke off the comet is only 50 or 60 meters in diameter the result would be an impact similar to Tunguska in the last century; a 20 to 30 megaton blast capable of destroying a city and killing millions.

    The chance that we will lose a city somewhere on earth to an impact event during this century is about one in five.

    • Re:one in five (Score:3, Informative)

      by snowbike ( 35353 )
      Don't worry chicken little, with the Leonids you are really quite safe.

      For the Leonids (which is the subject of the article, after all), even a large meteor will burn up in the atmosphere. The Leonid entry velocity is 70 km/s. Because the composition is mostly ice, meaning the Leonids have a lower density (approx. 1) than a typical meteor, and because of the high velocity, the Leonids burn up very quickly (relative to a "typical meteor"). The Leonids maintain a nearly constant velocity as they enter the atmosphere, and nearly any size Leonid will burn up by ~85 km altitude at the lowest. A more typical meteor, moving at 20 km/s with a density of approx. 3 will both slow down as it passes through the atmosphere (if large enough, it will slow down to the terminal velocity of any body falling in the atmosphere, and basically be in "free fall"). And for a typical meteor, 100 metric tons at "source" will be 1 kg on the ground.

      I'm really a homebrewer, I just play a scientist at work.

      ps Best wishes for a good storm tonight!
  • The Leonid meteor shower is promising to be a 'once in a lifetime event.

    isn't every event a once in a lifetime event?

  • Once in a lifetime?

    my fat arse

    The leonids come through for 2-3 year recurrent periods every 31 years.

    and some years they come through when you haven't got a full moon in the sky (unlike this lot).

    that would be a lot closer to "once in a lifetime"

    I wish the astromony nuts would stop over-inflating expectations.

    the best meteor showers i've seen have been completely unexpected and un-announced.

  • After seeing this, I'll be sure to park my car in the garage tonight!

  • Day of the Triffids (Score:3, Funny)

    by OmniGeek ( 72743 ) on Monday November 18, 2002 @09:50PM (#4703253)
    Me, I think I'll spend the night in a windowless room and come out in the morning to a world full of people blinded by the mysterious alien rays, but I'll have to watch out for the Triffids roaming the landscape eating all and sundry.

    Of course, if John Wyndham had written Day of the Triffids after the advent of the Internet, he'd have used geeks as his accidentally-sighted protagonists instead of a bandaged hospital patient. The hardcore geeks will probably be taking advantage of the bandwidth everyone else isn't using 'cause they're all outside skywatching, and will catch their meteors on the NASA site ;-)
  • Is it me, or is every year the "last chance" for the "best ever." I feel like I'm buying a used car. Last year was great! But they said it wouldn't be good until 2099, or something. Here's the Slashdot Article [slashdot.org], so yes go look, yes have a good time, but don't think this is the last time we'll see leonids in our life time.

    M@

  • Get out and look! (Score:3, Informative)

    by Jim.McGinness ( 38527 ) on Monday November 18, 2002 @11:48PM (#4703746)
    Here in Southern New Hampshire the skies are clear even if they're not dark (full moon plus all the man-made light). I just saw 5 meteors in about 15 minutes of watching, 3 whose trails stretched nearly halfway across the sky and the other 2 were little ones.

    Sorry about those of you whose weather is working against them. I'm going back out to watch after grabbing another couple of layers of blanket.
    • Not a dud, but hardly the stuff of legends. I was lucky to have two bright ones shortly after I started to watch -- these helped me locate the putative point of origin, even though, for the most part, I could see very few stars in that sector of the sky because of the lights of Manchester, NH. There I saw a lot of the little guys whose trails weren't much longer than a couple of times the moon's diameter.

      Now I gotta read up on this stuff. Why is this stuff hanging around at just this point in the earth's orbit? Our planet has to hustle around the sun to keep from falling in...why haven't these little bits of comet debris fallen into the sun.
    • Random reinforcement is a terrible force. I set my alarm to get me up in time to see the predicted second wave and I'm glad I did.

      Shortly before dawn, about 5:15 to 5:45, I spotted 52 more meteors. Full moon was fairly far down in the west but the city lights and rosy fingers of dawn were still there to contend with. I envy the people who could see colors!
  • Is this visible from the land down under?
  • For those who in clouds or daylight can tune their FM radio to some far FM channel(102+ MHz) where there is no FM radio signal. Whoosh whoosh sounds you will hear :)
  • I was out at 5 o'clock this morning, and it was absolutely great. At that time, we passed through the 1767 band, which is less dense than the 1866 band USians will see. In addition, we had full moon and a humid atmosphere, so conditions were far from good. Yet I saw so many nice meteors this may indicate that the boldest predictions have been correct.

    So enjoy!

  • Up at 4:00 to see the show, and it's overcast. But when was the last time you found all the NASA TV streaming sites /.'ed at this hour?
  • There was a thick layer of fog last night. I'm most irritated.
    • South London (Croydon) was mostly clouded over especially in the south and just above the northern horizon. However, I saw two between 0245 and 0310 this morning before going back to bed.

      Why do these things have to happen on a week-day?! ;)
  • Looks to me like someone estimation tool was proven wrong this year. Last year (2001) kicked this year's ass.

    My personal data:
    2000: 68 per hr
    2001: 450 per hr
    2002: 93 per hr

    M@
  • Absolutely majestic. The meteor shower peaked around 4:50 local time, when I counted 55 in a 5-minute period. Some of the meteors happened simultaneously. I'm glad I set my alarm for 3:30 (although it took quite an act of willpower to get up)!!!
  • It was raining here in Ohio, so no visible sign of the Leonids. But I got up early and turned on my ham 6M and 2M rigs and heard lots of meteor-scatter activity.

    Meteor trails ionize the atmosphere, making them reflective to radio waves. You can bounce signals off the trails, and there were bunches of folks doing that this morning, particularly on the 6M (50MHz) band, which is optimum for this sort of thing.

    It's really interesting to listen to. You hear nothing, then all of a sudden the signal goes to S9 (ie, strong) and stays that way for anything from a couple of seconds to a minute or more. Then it fades away and you wait for the next burst.

    I only had a low power transmitter, so listened a lot more than I talked, but I did work a station near Boston, MA who heard my 20 watts with no problems during a good burst. Better equipped stations were working from the east coast to well west of the Mississippi.
  • Did anybody capture it?
  • Wasn't really as good as last year, but the sky was more clear, and on the West coast, the moon was pretty low in the sky by 2:30am.

    What I saw were a few average ones, (not a lot of really bright fireballs, many trails, but no trains). And there was an odd pattern to them. We'd see 5-10 of them in the space of about 30 seconds, then nothing, absolutely nothing, for 5-10 minutes, then another little burst. That was pretty much it from 1:45 to 3am, the times I was out. I didn't have time to review my video footage, I assume it's going to suck. I used a Sony DCR-TRV20 with "nightshot" on. Got some good video of my kids oohing and ahhing, but nothing was showing up in the viewfinder at all. I think the key to meteor showers is a wide-angle lens. Or luck.

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