[meteorite-list] Leonids of 1966

From: Steve Schoner <steve_schoner_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:27:50 2004
Message-ID: <20031118162441.46588.qmail_at_web12707.mail.yahoo.com>

Hello all,

Every year at Leonid time, I get depressed-- why?

Because I remember that day when I was 15 looking up
into a thunderstorm that lasted over Pomona, CA for
that entire night-- while at Mt. Wilson, Charles
Capen, an astronomer that I later worked with at
Lowell Observatory saw the thunderstorm from the
mountaintop, all the while working at the 100 inch
telescope, seeing a clear sky overhead.

Then, according to him, one, then a couple of bright
meteors were seen, and in the course of just 15 min
the sky was full of them, all streaking out of Leo.

He said it was absolutely the most spectacular thing
that he had ever seen. He said that one could pass
ones hand over the sky moving it back and forth in 1
second sweeps and there were at least 30 to 50 meteors
with each pass. He estimated that the shower had at
its peak reached at least 180,000 meteors per/hr.
There were fireballs and spectacular contrails all
over the sky.

And off in the distance was that thunderstorm,
flashing lightning in the valley below--- over my
home. With me looking up, only imagining what I was
missing. And I heard it on the radio, that a
tremendous meteor storm was brewing, and I missed it,
all because of the weather. And making matters worse,
my step-father was on an jet flying to NY for business
that night and saw it from 35,000 ft. He told me that
the pilot woke everyone up and told them to look out
the windows to see "the most amazing meteor shower in
progress" And all I could say when he told me this
was...

"I saw a thunderstorm..."

I get depressed at it.

Bu there might be a way to get over that early
disappointment.

Does anyone know if there is any astronomy program out
there in cyperland that can re-create this tremendous
event?

The night sky as it was on Nov 17-18th, 1966?

Re-creating that tremendous meteor shower?

An astronomy program that works on the screen, as a
screen saver, or better yet, one with virtual reality
glasses?

Or are there any planetariums that have the equipment
to project on a sky screen the event as it was in
1966?

Any of these would go far in helping me get over my
pain, spawned by that isolated thunderstorm of 1966.

Steve Schoner/ams


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Received on Tue 18 Nov 2003 11:24:41 AM PST