Posted on 11/15/2015 10:45:26 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Explanation: There was a shower over Monument Valley -- but not water. Meteors. The featured image -- actually a composite of six exposures of about 30 seconds each -- was taken in 2001, a year when there was a very active Leonids shower. At that time, Earth was moving through a particularly dense swarm of sand-sized debris from Comet Tempel-Tuttle, so that meteor rates approached one visible streak per second. The meteors appear parallel because they all fall to Earth from the meteor shower radiant -- a point on the sky towards the constellation of the Lion (Leo). The yearly Leonids meteor shower peaks again this week. Although the Moon's glow should not obstruct the visibility of many meteors, this year's shower will peak with perhaps 15 meteors visible in an hour, a rate which is good but not expected to rival the 2001 Leonids. By the way -- how many meteors can you identify in the featured image?
(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...
[Credit and Copyright: Sean M. Sabatini]
This is hard to believe. Just sayin’
I saw this on top of Ikoma mountain near Osaka in 2001 and it was unreal. Literally a meteor every second or more.
(Perhaps this is worth repeating to the entire ping list?)
I love receiving these pings everyday and just discovered a to enjoy these pics throughout the day.
If you have a smartphone download an app called “IF by IFTTT.” After you register and configure look for a recipe titled “NASA’s picture of the day delivered to your inbox.”
Select that recipe and when you wake up each morning the NASA pic of the day will be the new wall paper on your smart phone.
This app does a lot of other things, but this one is very sweet.
“taken in 2001, a year when there was a very active Leonids shower. At that time, Earth was moving through a particularly dense swarm of sand-sized debris from Comet Tempel-Tuttle, so that meteor rates approached one visible streak per second. “
I hadn’t even seen this thread when I posted on your other more recent one regarding the spectacular Leonid storm I saw some years ago. Might well have been the same 2001 event.
Sky & Telescope Magazine merely says this about about the 2015 shower...
Tuesday, November 17 (2015):
The typically weak Leonid meteor shower is likely to peak late tonight: from about midnight local time until dawn Wednesday morning. Good luck.
Neat.
Thanks!
Bryan and I spent an evening up on our roof watching the
Leonids several years ago when we lived in California.
That was a lot of fun, and now I wish we had invited more
people to enjoy it with us. Unfortunately, we can’t get on
the roof of this house, and besides, it’s too overcast here.
Sigh...
But anyway, this is quite a spectacular sight, and it’s nice
to see all the meteors at once in one picture.
And no, I didn’t try to count them.
Thank you once again for a very pleasant APOD picture and
explanation.
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