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NASA Engineers to Operate Center for Monitoring Leonids Shower

Steve Roy
Media Relations Department
Marshall Space Flight Center
Huntsville, AL
(256) 544-0034
Steve. Roy.@msfc.nasa.gov
http://www.msfc.nasa.gov/news

For Release: Nov. 9, 1999

RELEASE: 99-281

NASA Engineers to Operate Center for Monitoring Leonids Shower; Scientists
to Launch Balloon for Clear View of Leonids Meteors

To keep their satellites operating smoothly, NASA, the U.S. Air Force and the
University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, will soon open and operate
the first center for monitoring the annual Leonids meteor shower around the
clock.

In a separate effort to learn more about these dazzling fireballs, NASA
scientists will launch a balloon to record meteor images and sounds -- and
maybe even catch a piece of a "shooting star."

A Leonids shower happens every year when Earth passes close to the orbit of
the comet Tempel-Tuttle and the debris left in the comet's path. As Earth
travels through the comet dust, the debris burns up in Earth's atmosphere,
and observers typically see about 10 to 20 shooting stars an hour. But some
experts predict this year's annual shower may turn into a "storm" -- a
spectacular display of 1,000 meteors per hour or more.

To monitor any increases in meteor activity, the Leonid Environment
Operations Center at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.,
will be staffed 24-hours a day from the afternoon of Nov. 15 until the shower
has passed on Nov. 19.

Marshall Center engineers will coordinate and distribute pre-Leonid storm
information and real-time observations about Leonid activity, intensity and
potential threat to NASA and U.S. Air Force spacecraft. A worldwide network
of radar and optical observation sites sponsored by the Air Force and operated
by the University of Western Ontario will send information to the Leonid
Environment Operations Center at Marshall, where scientists and engineers
will analyze the information and distribute it to satellite operators.

"NASA, the Air Force, the University of Western Ontario and several other
organizations have teamed together to provide these space weather updates
to keep spacecraft operators well informed so they can best protect our
satellites," said Dr. Jeff Anderson of the Marshall Center's Engineering
Directorate. "Monitoring the Leonid meteor stream also provides a rare look
at a natural phenomenon that will continue to grow in importance as more
and more satellites orbit our planet, and we venture deeper into space."

Although a typical meteor is smaller than a grain of sand, it travels more than
40 times the speed of a bullet. The Leonids are the fastest of all the meteor
streams, fast enough to circle the globe in less than 10 minutes. Meteor
impacts can impair satellites and their sensitive sensors.

Space weather forecasts are not something one hears on the nightly news
because they are tricky at best. Will this year's annual Leonids display be
just a shower -- a few to a few hundred shooting stars per hour? Or will it
be a storm -- a few thousand to a few hundred thousand meteors an hour?

"In 1998, the world watched and nothing happened," said Anderson. "But in
1966, most folks in the western U.S. were sleeping while one of the most
spectacular displays in history was going on over their heads."

It is because many experts are predicting a storm this year that the Marshall
Leonid Operations Center is being staffed around the clock during the shower.
Just last year, the comet Tempel-Tuttle visited our inner solar system,
depositing a dense cloud of debris. But because Earth crossed the comet's
orbit too soon after the comet's passage, there was no storm -- just a
strong shower.

In 1999, the Earth will pass only 68,200 miles (110,000 kilometers) from
the comet debris cloud, making a storm more likely.

In another activity, Marshall scientists will work to give the public a clearer
view of the streaking fireballs. Weather permitting, they will launch a
10-foot (3-meter) diameter weather balloon from Marshall's Atmospheric
Research Facility at approximately 12:30 a.m. CST, early Thursday morning
Nov. 18. The balloon will ascend approximately 20 miles (32 kilometers),
carrying a sensitive camera for capturing pictures of the meteors. During the
flight from around 12:30 a.m. to 3:30 a.m. CST, both still and low-resolution
television from the onboard camera can be viewed online at the Science
Directorate's Web site at

                     http://www.leonidslive.com

Last year, more than one million people tuned into the live Web cast or saw
the replay the next day on the Web site. This year a new feature will be a
recording device that sends back sounds of meteors from space. Visitors to
the Web site will be able to hear the "whistlers" and other bizarre noises
that meteors make as they interact with ionized gas or plasma in the Earth's
atmosphere. Scientists hope to use this radio receiver to record very low
frequency electromagnetic emissions below 10 kHz emitted by the meteors.

A capture device on the balloon may even bring back a meteor particle.
Scientists are still analyzing data from an aerogel-collecting device that
was flown last year to capture bits of comet Tempel-Tuttle. The meteoroid
capture device on the upcoming flight uses xerogel, a close relative of aerogel,
and a variety of low-density acrylic materials.

"It works like flypaper," said Dr. John Horack, an astronomer at the Marshall
Center. "We expose these materials to the air up in the stratosphere while the
meteor shower is under way. When tiny particles strike the exposed xerogel,
they stick."

Note to Editors / News Directors: Media are invited to schedule a visit to view
the Leonid Environment Operations Center during operations from Nov. 16-19.
Media also may watch the balloon launch scheduled for approximately 12:30 a.m.
CST, Thursday, Nov. 18, weather permitting. To attend the balloon launch or
visit the Leonid Center, media should contact Steve Roy of the Marshall Media
Relations Department at (256) 544-0034.

Interviews, photos and video supporting this release are available to media
representatives by contacting Roy. For an electronic version of this release,
digital images or more information, visit Marshall's News Center on the Web at:

                    http://www.msfc.nasa.gov/news

For information about the U.S. Air Force role during the Leonid storm, contact
Lt. Col. Don Miles at (719) 554-3842.

IMAGE:

NASA Photo #9906509 : To keep their satellites safe, this month NASA, the
U.S. Air Force and the University of Western Ontario will operate the first
center for around-the-clock monitoring of the annual Leonids meteor shower.