Leonid Meteors
Discussion
if you are out and about early tomorrow keep a look in the sky and again early on the 21st - fullish moon this year and a lower activity than recent years but worth a look if you fall on your back on the way home from the pub!
"The 2005 Leonids are expected to show only low activity this year, with only one possible trail encounter.
Russian meteor scientist, Mikhail Maslov points toward a very perturbed old dust trail, which was ejected, from the Tempel-Tuttle comet back in the year 1167 and is forecast to cross paths with the Earth this year. Maslov was the first to point out this possible encounter, and other researchers have since confirmed it. This encounter is expected to occur on Nov. 21, at around 01h GMT, which would place Europe, Africa and western Asia in the best position to see whatever activity might occur. Rates, however, are still expected to be quite low, probably on the order of a dozen meteors an hour or less. And that's not even factoring in the Moon's interference.
As already noted, the "traditional" peak for the Leonids is scheduled for the predawn hours of Nov. 17. But the almost full Moon will be not too far away, shining within the constellation of Taurus, making observations very difficult
www.space.com/spacewatch/051111_leonids.html
"The 2005 Leonids are expected to show only low activity this year, with only one possible trail encounter.
Russian meteor scientist, Mikhail Maslov points toward a very perturbed old dust trail, which was ejected, from the Tempel-Tuttle comet back in the year 1167 and is forecast to cross paths with the Earth this year. Maslov was the first to point out this possible encounter, and other researchers have since confirmed it. This encounter is expected to occur on Nov. 21, at around 01h GMT, which would place Europe, Africa and western Asia in the best position to see whatever activity might occur. Rates, however, are still expected to be quite low, probably on the order of a dozen meteors an hour or less. And that's not even factoring in the Moon's interference.
As already noted, the "traditional" peak for the Leonids is scheduled for the predawn hours of Nov. 17. But the almost full Moon will be not too far away, shining within the constellation of Taurus, making observations very difficult
www.space.com/spacewatch/051111_leonids.html
tonyvid said:
... making observations very difficult
A few year back I had a go at observing meteor showers using Radio. The principle is to tune to a Radio transmitter that is below the horizon, as meteors enter the upper atmoshpere and burn up they ionise the gasses there which can allow you to pick up a reflection of the signal from the distant radio transmitter.
You can get free software on the internet that uses the soundard in your PC and performs FFT transformation on the received signals to detect these echos. (You also can pick up passing satellites and aeorplanes)
All good stuff and quite a fun project if any of you are budding scientists.
Google 'Radio Meteor' for more info.
I saw 2 about 00:45 but the moon was so bright you could have read the paper in the garden! Any night over the next few days should give you a few and some can be really bright leaving a sort of fizzy looking trail across the sky - damn moon, it's the first time for 7 years I haven't been clouded or fogged out! Keep your peepers peeled
or listen for those pings on the radio.
or listen for those pings on the radio.Was outside at about 11.45 last night & saw a very bright, long duration meteor directly overhead heading towards the centre of the gap between Mars & the Moon. Even with a slight mist, incredibly bad light pollution & the glare of the moon, it was still very bright.
Light pollution drowns out most meteors. It used to be that you'd get a good display of meteor showers in North Cornwall but even there now suffers from light pollution. One year here the Perseids didn't look good at all, people were saying it must have been a sparce area of the dust trail that we'd hit, etc, etc. The in-laws were in the Nubian Desert at the time & saw a spectacular display, with meteors coninuously shooting across the sky. We only got to see the really bright ones. Damn light pollution.
Light pollution drowns out most meteors. It used to be that you'd get a good display of meteor showers in North Cornwall but even there now suffers from light pollution. One year here the Perseids didn't look good at all, people were saying it must have been a sparce area of the dust trail that we'd hit, etc, etc. The in-laws were in the Nubian Desert at the time & saw a spectacular display, with meteors coninuously shooting across the sky. We only got to see the really bright ones. Damn light pollution.
Keep looking for the next couple of nights - it's not over yet.
www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/forum/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=25240&posts=3
www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/forum/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=25240&posts=3
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