Darn. I'm gonna have to make it a point to stay up reeeeeeally late on Friday.
Tune in for Leonids Show
By Larry O'Hanlon, Discovery.com News
Nov. 16, 2000 — Thursday and Friday nights are prime time for a double meteor shower.
The sky show is the annual Leonid meteor shower, signaling the Earth's encounter with clouds of debris left behind by Comet Tempel-Tuttle. As the Earth moves through the debris, the grains, pebbles and chunks streak brightly across the sky as they burn up in the atmosphere, creating "falling stars" or meteors.
On Thursday night meteors are expected to increase from 2:15 a.m. ET and to peak at about 4:00 a.m. ET on Friday. The shower should begin again at the same times on Friday night. Although the moon will be up and outshine the fainter meteors, astronomers are expecting Leonids to put on a good show.
"If the predictions hold true, you should be able to see several dozen meteors per hour around midnight on Nov. 17 and Nov. 18," says Robert Naeye, editor of Astronomical Society of the Pacific's Mercury magazine. Eastern viewers will probably get the best show of all, he says.
"Meteor showers are such wonderful, free entertainment," says James White, the executive director of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. "All you need is a clear dark sky, a comfortable chair, and maybe a thermos of coffee or hot chocolate."
Because Comet Tempel-Tuttle has an orbit of 33 years and has left many streams of debris along Earth's orbit through history predicting which year Earth will hit a stream and produce a substantial meteor "storm" is tricky business.
To improve their meteor forecasts, astronomers have created computer models to track the history of the Leonid meteor stream back centuries as well as into the future. According to these models, Thursday's shower will be caused by debris left by Comet Tempel-Tuttle in its 1932 swing through the inner solar system. Friday's show will be from the comet's 1866 passage.
Last year, the model was used for the first time and correctly predicted a pretty good show in Europe. This year the Eastern US and Canada will have the best seats.
Still, there are no guarantees.
"The Leonids have been a tad unpredictable lately," says Arthur Johnson, director of the Flieschmann Planetarium at the University of Nevada in Reno. He says he'll take a look Thursday night, if the sky is clear, but he's not getting his hopes up. "There's always the element of surprise or chance."
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"I will gather myself around my faith, for light does the darkness most fear." - Jewel
Tune in for Leonids Show
By Larry O'Hanlon, Discovery.com News
Nov. 16, 2000 — Thursday and Friday nights are prime time for a double meteor shower.
The sky show is the annual Leonid meteor shower, signaling the Earth's encounter with clouds of debris left behind by Comet Tempel-Tuttle. As the Earth moves through the debris, the grains, pebbles and chunks streak brightly across the sky as they burn up in the atmosphere, creating "falling stars" or meteors.
On Thursday night meteors are expected to increase from 2:15 a.m. ET and to peak at about 4:00 a.m. ET on Friday. The shower should begin again at the same times on Friday night. Although the moon will be up and outshine the fainter meteors, astronomers are expecting Leonids to put on a good show.
"If the predictions hold true, you should be able to see several dozen meteors per hour around midnight on Nov. 17 and Nov. 18," says Robert Naeye, editor of Astronomical Society of the Pacific's Mercury magazine. Eastern viewers will probably get the best show of all, he says.
"Meteor showers are such wonderful, free entertainment," says James White, the executive director of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. "All you need is a clear dark sky, a comfortable chair, and maybe a thermos of coffee or hot chocolate."
Because Comet Tempel-Tuttle has an orbit of 33 years and has left many streams of debris along Earth's orbit through history predicting which year Earth will hit a stream and produce a substantial meteor "storm" is tricky business.
To improve their meteor forecasts, astronomers have created computer models to track the history of the Leonid meteor stream back centuries as well as into the future. According to these models, Thursday's shower will be caused by debris left by Comet Tempel-Tuttle in its 1932 swing through the inner solar system. Friday's show will be from the comet's 1866 passage.
Last year, the model was used for the first time and correctly predicted a pretty good show in Europe. This year the Eastern US and Canada will have the best seats.
Still, there are no guarantees.
"The Leonids have been a tad unpredictable lately," says Arthur Johnson, director of the Flieschmann Planetarium at the University of Nevada in Reno. He says he'll take a look Thursday night, if the sky is clear, but he's not getting his hopes up. "There's always the element of surprise or chance."
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"I will gather myself around my faith, for light does the darkness most fear." - Jewel