Astronomy Pictures of the Day: A Leonid Meteor Explodes; Catching Falling Stardust; Leonid Watching

NASA ^ | 2001, Nov. 16-18 | NASA

[Free the USA]

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[ganesha]

I watched the meteors from Humphry's hill which is just south of Ellicotville New York. I knew the view would be better if I got out of Buffalo. Thank you to the people at spot coffee for giving me directions to a good place to watch. I stayed up until dawn and saw more shooting stars in one night than I have seen in the entire rest of my life. I saw two events where there was a bright white flash instead of just the usual streak. Did anyone else see this? Could this have been a meteor exploding?

BTW My sympathy goes to those people who got clouded out. I have had this happen with other astronomical events, but this time we got a clear night.

[WSGilcrest]

Laid out in a muddy field for three hours(near Napa, CA.). Saw maybe 100 shooting stars. More of a meteor sprinkle than a storm. Oh well.

[FITZ]

I was out there between 3 and 4 am watching the show. It was pretty incredible. Nice clear chilly night here and by 4 am a pretty impressive fog was forming. A very nice night.

[imjustme]

I am just sick to my stomach looking at these pics. Set the alarm for 3:30am and we all slept through it!!
I was out around midnight and half the sky was clouded over so thinking maybe whole sky was clouded over by 3:30am so I don't feel so sick that we slept through this.
I am taking a big guess that there won't be a meteor shower tonight?????
Great pics btw!!!

[Phil V.]

Thanks for the thread. My wife and I were on station at 12:30 Pacific time. Immediately we began to see occasional singles and doubles from Leo. As 2:00 AM approached the display increased to several per minute - some REALLY bright and MANY pairs and some "triples". We were on a hill with a clear view to the east and it was the first time we had seen clearly the "origin" of the shower from which meteors radiated 360 degrees. SO NEAT! I was taking 60 second exposures with 400 ASA film through a wide angle lens. I'm off now to get them developed. I must have caught at least a few.

[NYer]

Thanks for the super photos!!! Great Job!!

Here in upstate New York, I was able to see more in the span of 15 minutes than in an entire lifetime. Normally, each time there is something worth viewing in the sky, we get clouded in, but not last night. Will the "show" continue tonight? Also, when is the next one?

[Ben Bolt]

I catch this show every time but this was the best ! Astronomy is my favourite hobby and thank you for posting this . Oh yes , I'll be up late tonight ..

[secret garden]

Wow! Great pictures! We were out from 3:30-4:45am and saw over 350 shooting stars. We almost slept through church, but it was a fantastic show here, outside of Nashville. Will there be more before sunrise?

[Scott from the Left Coast]

Cool photos.

[lepton]

Thanks for the great post. We were up at 4:00AM, standing outside freezing - it was about twenty degrees here in Northern PA - and watching the display.

In NE, it was pretty spectacular from just after 5 to about 5:50. At one point I saw six in parallel at the same time. Four of which were in the same instant with the other two following in sus-second sequence. ..And the various colors. I didn't know they came in green and red.

[kcat]

hi ganesha

I am here in Alabama and I saw lots of meteors, alot of them with cool flourescent green trails - but I only saw one with the incredible bright white flash. I love to hear about others seeing this. Most of the early a.m. it was just me and my cat, me "oh my goshing" and her sharpening her claws on the hammock. My 11 year old did get up with me for about 10 minutes. It is such a neat thing to share.

[kcat]

Thanks for the cool pictures, callisto!

[lepton]

People I e-mailed to watch who live in NYC, say they saw some that threw shadows. For a while about ever 5 minutes there was at least one that did so, plus a fair number that were just flashes, and about 5:40-5_50, I was one with almost no tail that was bright enough that it stung.

For quite a while, more than one a minute threw out a trail that glowed for three to four seconds. A few that glowed for more than 30 degrees. Last night some were mentioned to have travelled from horizon to horizon.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Well viewing from the Southern California beach here wasn't good so I turned in a little after midnight!

Thanks for posting this!

[VOA]

why should the astronomers get the best view?

For too many of them the explanation is simple.
Look in your wallet. Not only do you not get to see the best views, you don't get to see
your tax dollars these guys live on.

[Benson_Carter]

I think Upstate got an excellent show. I'm in Rochester, and drove to a mountain top south of Naples in the Bristol Mountains (1 hour south or Rochester)

I saw 1500 + meteors between 12:30 and 3:00 from virtually 360 degrees that I had of view at the peak of the mountain, and at least another 500 between 3:30 and 5am when I drove north to 20 miles south of Rochester and watched at my old roommate's house.

all in all the most humbling and amazing thing I've seen in my 21 years.

[rickmoe]

yeah, what a joke is being played on us poor fools by the elite technocrats.

[StriperSniper]

saw some that threw shadows.

I was fishing Rockaway Inlet and the reflections on the water told you when to look up. There was a good variety of streaks and flashes.

(Caught a few fish but the Leonids were the only part that lived up to expectations.)

[VOA]

yeah, what a joke is being played on us poor fools by the elite technocrats.

I'm not a luddite...or against the guvmint funding technological advances.
But I do get tired of government-funded astronomers on government-funded TV (aka PBS)
asking us to send in more dollars.
I guess my real angle is to tell some of these jokers...get a private sector job,
and buy yourself a good telescope (or time at one).
They'd appreciate the thrill of discovery even more if they actually paid for some of it.