Posted on 08/28/2007 6:17:36 PM PDT by IonImplantGuru
For FReepers in the western US (& Hawaii), I have a heads-up for - potentially - a really nice meteor display early this coming Saturday morning. Points east will not be able to see the peak of the display because - at 4:36 AM PDT - twilight or daytime will already have occurred. The best show will be looking to the northeast. There will be a 3/4 full waning moon high in the sky, so if the observer can shield oneself from the moon behind an obstacle (phone pole, house, car, tree, etc.) the viewing will be improved. I was turned on to this rare opportunity because an on-line correspondent of mine is a board member of the American Meteor society. How rare? Might not get another chance this good for another 70 years or so; I don't know about you, but I doubt I'll be able to make that next show.
The above picture shows the day/night dividing line at the predicted peak of the shower. At that point there may be 200 to 300 meteors/hr, or about 3 - 4 per min. Colors tend towards blue & green as opposed to the usual yellow for, say, the August Perseids. Some these should be as bright as the brightest stars, and penetrate deeper into the atmosphere than most showers.
More detail can be found at http://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/aurigids.html>
Hopefully the 'seeing' will be good (ie, clear skies) in YOUR neck of the woods!
Thanks! Bookmarking.
Aw :(
I want a nice show in the northeast.
Could you please reschedule that for Friday night? I’ll be free then. Thanks!
Very cool! I hope you have clear skies :)
Hopefully we’ll have clear skies in Seattle. *\;-) My camera should be out there to record this!
my youngest daughter and I have gotten up at2 - 4 am every fall to watch metor showers....she’s moved out, but i think i’ll go out and watch anyway.
Thanks for a super pic of the coming light show.I’am a Kitty Hawk sailor as well 1961-62.....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!............
Cue the opening song from “Smallville”.......
Hey, why do meteor showers always peak at 4:30AM, huh??? EVERY meteor shower for the last billion years or so has peaked at 4:30AM, it seems. It's a conspiracy, I tell 'ya. Just why the heck can't meteors keep civilized hours and peak at 11PM for once? It's a sure bet that the dinosaurs were wiped out at 4:30AM (local Chicxulub time).
Ping
I’m sure we’ll be covered in clouds. LOL
Weather report......
Friday Night through Sunday Night
Mostly cloudy. Lows in the lower to mid 50s. Highs in the lower to mid 70s.
DARN....but, there is a full eclipse of the moon TONIGHT, starting about 3am.....full eclipse will be about 5am....
I’ll be getting up around 3:30 AM, as usuual. :o)
ping
The eclipse was last night. Sorry to give you bad news.
LAST NIGHT?????????????????? Oh, shoot!
This will be a nice bonus for those of us who’ll be up early for the dove opener in CA.
It’s been years and years since I went dove hunting. Where ya going...
Brawley, CA. I’m going with a friend who’s hunted this spot for years.
Thank you for this! (eastern WA state)
Wow. Only a two hour duration. That’s pretty short.
Great photo composite...
Folks, the display is AWESOME and humbling. Set your alarm clocks and watch it (including kids).
It's a great help to lie on lawn chairs to look upward or you're all done for in a few minutes! Bundle up with a blanket if necessary. Have hot coffee at the ready.
WATCH THIS SHOWER! It's worth the inconvenience. You can always sleep late, but totally visible meteor showers are few and far between in one's lifetime.
Leni
Thanks, great shots!
So sorry, m'dear!
This is predicted to be a truly short 'burst' of activity: it starts about 30 min before peak, or about 4:00am and ends 30 minutes after peak, at about 5am. Those east of the Missippi will be in daylight; from the Mississippi to the Rockies will be in morning twilight. Only west of the Rockies will get a good show.
That's the way the cookie crumbles.
I hope it doesn’t turn out to be a bust like the one this last August.
Bump! Seattle weather, while perfect for the eclipse, is liable to be pretty temperamental tomorrow morning.
But if you are west of the Rockies, this is worth a look.
If it’s not, I’m going to be sooo disappointed that I didn’t get up at 4:30 to watch it!
If you're going to make the effort worthwhile you need to be awake and ready to get outside by shortly after 4am. It takes one's eyes 5 - 10 minutes to adjust to night vision - though the 3/4 moon will produce some light. Minimize the lights inside as you prep and the period of adjustment will shorten.
I personally plan to get to bed early tonight (9pm or so) and set the alarm for around 3:50. Here in southern Arizona, our summer 'monsoon' rainy season seems to be winding down, but there is always some chance of cloudiness this time of year. Needless to say, if I get up to solid overcast tomorrow morning, I'll be one PO'd desert rat!
About 9 hour countdown alert!!
Get up, get up, whereever you are!
Weather in Seattle broken clouds but more clouds than sky.
Looks like alot of clearing to the southwest where the weather is coming from. If it clears, though, the moon will definitely be a factor.
There certainly not 200 to 300 per hour... I saw about two dozen or so between 4am and 5am. Some pretty nice. I’m glad I got up.
Cleared up nice here in Seattle last hour or so, I went out and watched for about 12 minutes. Good view of Orion, Sirius, the Pleiades overhead.
Not one single hot rock though.
Pretty much a non-event, imho.
Monterey Bay Area had gorgeous clear skies this morning. Lots and lots of stars, and a huge moon. We saw maybe a half dozen of what I would normally call “shooting stars.” Nothing very exciting.
I told my son that maybe, with everyone up and watching, we’d see some kind of big spacecraft pulling a banner reading “vote for Hillary.” That would have been more exciting than the few meteors we saw.
Well, reviewing my original post I did hedge my bets (as any meteor fan would) with verbiage like '... for - potentially - a really nice meteor display...' and '... there may be 200 to 300 meteors/hr, or about 3 - 4 per min.'
Did you have clear skies to the NE up there? That's where the meteors I observed radiated from; one wouldn't have seen much looking in any other direction.
Here in Tucson we lucked out and had cloudless skies pre-dawn. There was a very brief spate of meteors over the course of a couple of minutes - maybe 6 or 8 of them - right around 4:30, then a few more stragglers over the next 10 minutes.
It was worth getting up a little early (I'm normally up around 5 or 5:30 anyway) but on a scale of 1 - 10, I'd only rate this display as a 3 or 4, whereas the Leonids display of Nov 2001 would have been about 9.
Question. Is it normal for astronomers to be that far off? This shower was not predicted to be any further east than the Great Plains and it was to go on display at 4:00am CDT on 9/1. The sighting on the East Coast was 1800 miles east and at 9:00pm EDT. Some 13 hours later. Seems strange.
The Aurigid shower was a bit earlier than advertised before hand, but only by a half hour or so.
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