Leonid Meteor Shower Delights Many

Associated Press ^ | November 18, 2001 | By ANDREW BRIDGES, AP Science Writer

[Huck]

I was up in Jefferson, at Mahlon Dickerson Park, from 4am-6am and the show was awesome. Sorry you missed it.

[UnChained]

It was a pretty good show just east of New Orleans. My nine yaer old stepson thanked me for waking him and forcing him to come with me. Lots of nice meteors, but no horizon to horizon wonders like what I saw once as a kid. My kid wants to do it every year from now on, mosquitoes and all.

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

Here's a Link

[Ron C.]

"..minutes from mount Wilson!"

Mount Wilson is a terrible place to view meteors, particularly the smaller Leonids - way, way to much light pollution from the LA basin. Time, and place of viewing is critical - we saw Leonids into the tens of thousands.

We drove up to high elevation in the Sierras. The ‘peak' activity was later than the 2AM estimate - but had a great two-hour plus preview - and the encore continued all the way home, of course much less visible at lower elevations through dirty air, light pollution and haze. As I drove up, I wondered if the long trip up and back was going to be worth it. It was more than that - it was fantastic beyond anything I had expected - and beat the ‘estimates' of 12-13 per minute by a long shot.

By 2:50AM, things got hot - and ran that way for about 45 minutes at an average of about 3 per-second (180 a minute) - with a few blasts of over 200 per minute. We were astounded that meteors were raining all around us - basically from horizon to horizon in all directions simultaneously, accented at times with normal meteor activity of non-Leonid variety, and one corkscrewing re-entry of some space junk. Some trails covered much of the sky, others were a mere blip - and some were ‘skippers' which hit the atmosphere bounced out, then re-entered a millisecond later to burn up. The range of colors was surprising - mostly a bright white blazing head with sparkling tails of lesser white - but some ran light pink, others faint green - but a few were a more pronounced red or green.

[Looking for Diogenes]

The Sierra Nevada was a much better place to view the meteor shower than the vicinity of Mt Wilson. We drove up at 1 pm, only to find a traffic jam extending all the way to the freeway. I picked the best spot I could, but there was still too much light pollution, both from the city and from the thousands of cars driving the Crest Highway. We were only able to stay until 2:30 am, past the predicted climax at 2:09 am but apparently too early.

[Coleus]

I guess I had too much light pollution, I don't know, I saw plenty of stars, skies were clear but no metorites.

Some Jefferson Cop gave me a ticket a few weeks ago on 23, no seatbelt.

[Coleus]

Hey, stop peeking.

[firebrand]

Saw them from the Sheep Meadow in Central Park. (The Sheep Meadow is closed, you say? Ha ha ha ha ha.) Too much light in the sky, though. We probably saw only the brightest ones, about one every two minutes or so. Still it was great fun, all hundred or so intrepid NYC nature lovers out there together, determined enough to wend their way through the park at night..

[virgil]

In Lake County we had the fog, but I was still able to see a few meteors. About 20-30 in an hours time.

[Howlin]

However, the dust particles seen as shooting stars across North America on Sunday were shed during a 1766 pass.

Far out.

[RHammm]

That's great, I was hoping to go up to Big Sur, but to much cloud cover there. I watched from my backyard (Rancho Palos Verdes), next to the old Marine Land, 4 people got a great show.

[VietVet]

Down here in Marco Island, Florida, I personally counted 332 meteors all night, more than 2/3 of them between 4:00 and 5:25, and including 3 that were visible in the east even as dawn lit up the sky. I know I missed many, because I couldn't watch the whole sky at once, and I kept having to go back inside (coffee will do that to me).

[poweqi]

I was up at 2:00 and between FR and the boathouse my neighbors on both sides of me had their boats broken into! I didn't see a thing. Neighbors, one over, were out watching the skys too. I got to bed at 4:00. The light show was fabulous!!! My boat didn't get broken into 'cause I don't have one!!!

[kidd]

The baby woke up at 5:00 here in Connecticut. Me, my wife and my daughter went out to look. Saw about 20 meteors in two minutes. It was breezy and in the mid 20s out - too cold to hold my interest at that hour. The most interesting thing we saw was the neighbor's kid coming home at that time.

[MeekOneGOP]

The most interesting thing we saw was the neighbor's kid coming home at that time.

Well, please let us know when you find out what's happenin' there, ok?? LOL!

I'm envious. Clouds moved in 1-2 a.m. and I stayed up late just to check it out - for naught. Glad to get happy news from other FReepers that had better luck than me, though!! ;-)

[realwoman]

We went up to a small local lake, only had to share with one very nice, older man, and the show was fantastic! Couldn't decide where to look as they were everywhere, all over the sky! Definitely worth waiting up for and the drive.

[Joe Hadenuf]

I agree, It was a fantastic show into Southern California. At the 6500 foot level with clear dark skys, it was really a great show.

[Spunky]

I went outside here in eastern Washington at about 12:00 or 12:30am and looked up and seen about three awesome ones, one had a tail that covered half the sky. Went in grabbed a blanket and pillows and sat outside for about 15 minutes and didn't see anymore. I'm sure it was great a little later.

Not much. I got up at 1:15 a.m. and watched until 2:00 a.m. when the clouds moved in and covered the sky. In that time I saw about 5 streak across the sky. I was very disappointed. I was expecting to see something like I saw as a young girl, in 1949, in Seattle. I remember seeing what appeared like every star in the sky was falling.

[eggman]

I was out for a while about 1:30 here in NE Ohio and saw some pretty awesome grazers with vivid tails. Went back out about 4:00 and saw quite a few in about 30 minutes but none as vivid as the first few.

While I was out I heard a coyote howl, which got the neighbor's dogs going, which started another neighbor's rooster crowing, which got my rooster started. They then proceeded to chat for about 5 minutes before they went back to sleep. Other than that, it was a pretty quiet night around here.