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Thread: Meteor showers

  1. #1

    Meteor showers

    There's An Incredible Meteor Shower Happening This Week

    November is the time of year to watch one of the most brilliant meteor showers of the year: the Leonid meteor shower, also known as the Leonids.

    The Leonids became famous during the 17th century for their impressive show of shooting stars. In 1833, for example, the most stunning part of the meteor shower displayed up to 100 thousand meteor per hour.

    This year's Leonid meteor shower will not be as spectacular as the one in 1833, but reports suggest that it will still be a site worth seeing. Also, the Leonids are one of the last meteor showers of the year. The Geminids meteor shower will follow in December.

    The best time to see the Leonids this year will be Nov. 17 and 18 between the hours of midnight and dawn. During those hours, observers can expect to see about 15 meteors per hour, or about one every 4 minutes. The best way to see a meteor shower is to get far away from city lights where you can clearly see the stars.

    To view the Leonids, astronomers suggest that viewers look at the part of the sky between the East horizon and the point right above to view the Leonids.

    Headlines US World Crime Local Technology Offbeat Politics Video AdChoices There's An Incredible Meteor Shower Happening This Week

    Business Insider jorwig@businesssinsider.com (Jessica Orwig) 6 hrs ago
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    © Provided by Business Insider
    November is the time of year to watch one of the most brilliant meteor showers of the year: the Leonid meteor shower, also known as the Leonids.

    The Leonids became famous during the 17th century for their impressive show of shooting stars. In 1833, for example, the most stunning part of the meteor shower displayed up to 100 thousand meteor per hour.

    This year's Leonid meteor shower will not be as spectacular as the one in 1833, but reports suggest that it will still be a site worth seeing. Also, the Leonids are one of the last meteor showers of the year. The Geminids meteor shower will follow in December.

    The best time to see the Leonids this year will be Nov. 17 and 18 between the hours of midnight and dawn. During those hours, observers can expect to see about 15 meteors per hour, or about one every 4 minutes. The best way to see a meteor shower is to get far away from city lights where you can clearly see the stars.

    To view the Leonids, astronomers suggest that viewers look at the part of the sky between the East horizon and the point right above to view the Leonids.

    Below is a map from AccuWeather indicating where in the US that the weather is expected to provide clear skies for the best viewing.


    © Provided by Business Insider
    When Earth passes through the tail of comet Tempel-Tuttle, the dust and debris the comet leaves behind is swept up by Earth's gravity. As a result, the debris strikes the Earth's atmosphere at incredible speeds — for the Leonids it's about 44 miles per second.


    At these speeds, the debris of the comet and the molecules in Earth's atmosphere rub against each other creating tremendous friction. It's this friction that generates heat and light that we then see as a "shooting star".

    Each meteor shower is named for the constellation from which the falling meteors appear to emerge. The Leonids are named for the constellation Leo, which is Latin for lion.

    Full Story @ http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/techno...eek/ar-BBeagit
    "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth"
    Sherlock Holmes

  2. #2
    Cloudy skies here this week...

  3. #3

    quadrantid-meteor-shower-peaks-tonight

    The annual Quadrantid meteor shower each January provides one of the most intense annual meteor displays, with a brief, sharp maximum lasting only a few hours. And while the 2015 Quadrantids peak tonight (Jan. 3), the bright moonlight may outshine these dazzling "shooting stars."

    The Quadrantid meteor shower of 2015 appears to radiate from the northeast corner of the constellation of Boötes, the Herdsman, so you might expect them to be called the "Boötids." But back in the late 18th century, there was a constellation in the same area called Quadrans Muralis, the "Mural or Wall Quadrant" (an astronomical instrument). It is a long-obsolete star pattern, invented in 1795 by astronomer J.J. Lalande to commemorate the instrument used to observe the stars in his catalogue. But the name survives in the Quadrantid meteors.

    Adolphe Quetelet of Brussels Observatory discovered the shower in the 1830s, and several astronomers in Europe and America noted these meteors shortly afterward. They were christened Quadrantids, and even though the constellation from which these meteors appear to radiate is no longer officially recognized in astronomy, the shower's original moniker continues to this day.

    http://www.space.com/28155-quadranti...-tonight.html?
    sit on the edge to watch something unfold with a force we cannot control but communicate with

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