Posted on 11/21/2015 10:43:22 AM PST by SunkenCiv
Explanation: Leonid meteors rained down on planet Earth this week, the annual shower of dusty debris from the orbit of Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. Leonids streak through this composite night skyview from a backyard observatory in southern Ontario. Recorded with camera fixed to a tripod, the individual frames capture the bright meteor activity throughout the night of November 16/17, about a day before the shower's very modest peak. The frames are registered to the fixed field of view, so the meteor trails are not all aligned to the background star field recorded that same evening when nebula-rich Orion stood above the southern horizon. As a result, the trails don't appear to point back to the shower's radiant in Leo, situated off the left edge of the star field frame. In fact, some trails could be of Taurid meteors, a shower also active in November, or even sporadic meteors, including a bright fireball with its reflection near the horizon.
(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...
[Credit and Copyright: Malcolm Park (North York Astronomical Association)]
In the Eastern sky, early night, this time of the year, there is a group of stars that look like a kite. Does anyone know the name?
Could be Orion.
No, I familiar with Orion. This one is relatively small.
Cygnus (like a cross) or Lyra (much smaller).
I looked those up and they are not what I am seeing. It is relatively small, figuratively speaking, with a kite-like configuration with a tail of stars. Can only be seen from Louisiana in Nov. Dec. and January, basically. Appears on the eastern horizon, travels westward over the months, rising higher each month. I don’t know if it is a part of a larger constellation. Orion and the Big and Little Dippers are the only constellations that live up to their names, for me.
You have several choices,
If it is small, it could be the Pleiades. Very small cluster in the constellation of Taurus. Taurus itself does have a kite shape and is well up in the east at Sunset.
Auriga, Perseus, Andromeda, also fit.
If it is below Orion, it is Lepus. Small constellation, has some nice objects in it.
Look at the larger version of the photo and see if you can see your group of stars. I can make out Lepus easily in it.
AS for the photo, That is Orion in the middle, so, not many of those meteors are Leonids. Maybe Orionids. The explanation in the article sounds kind of bogus.
Oh OH! I think I got it, it’s the Hyades. It’s the closest cluster to us and is quite nice to look at. The star Aldebaran is in the top left of the group, but, not associated with it.
Give me more info if you can.
1. It is visible in Louisiana from about the months of November thru January.
2. It rises in the east and moves west during the night, of course. It rises (becomes visible) higher up as the months go by.
3. The “kite” part is approximately the size of a full moon.
4. The tail part is vertical and I think it hangs a bit to the right.
5. Right now it appears to be at about eight o’clock. The moon is too bright and it is hazy.
I’m in Georgia and so we are seeing about the same things, just an hour later.
Which side of the Moon?
I am now getting the feeling you are talking about maybe the Water Jug in Aquarius. More to the West would be Delphinus, the dolphin. To the east might be Ares.
Above would be Andromeda, but, that’s bigger than the Moon.
Keep it coming!
Not trying to be dense, it’s just what you are calling a kite might be something I call something else.
Everything I posted is above the horizon right now.
“it’s just what you are calling a kite might be something I call something else.”
Sort of like a parallelogram standing on one of its corners.
Delphinus. Small constellation. Near Altair, a bright blue star in the middle of the Milky Way.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphinus
There is a chart of the stars.
That’s it. Thanks.
Sorry to have been so dense.
Glad to have helped otherwise!
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