[meteorite-list] Leonid meteor shower to peak Tuesday

From: Richard Kowalski <*damoclid_at_meteoritecentral.com*> Date: Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:05:40 -0800 (PST) Message-ID: <742172.25847.qm_at_web33903.mail.mud.yahoo.com> · damoclid_at_meteoritecentral.com

--
Richard Kowalski
http://fullmoonphotography.net
IMCA #1081
--- On Mon, 11/16/09, Greg Stanley <stanleygregr at hotmail.com> wrote:
> From: Greg Stanley <stanleygregr at hotmail.com>
> Subject: [meteorite-list] Leonid meteor shower to peak Tuesday
> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> Date: Monday, November 16, 2009, 1:30 PM
> 
> A reminder - Greg S.
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/space/11/16/nasa.leonid.meteors/index.html
> 
> 
> (CNN) -- This year's Leonid meteor shower will peak early
> Tuesday, forecasters say, producing mild but pretty sparks
> over the United States and a more intense outburst over
> Asia.
> 
> "We're predicting 20 to 30 meteors per hour over the
> Americas and as many as 200 to 300 per hour over Asia," said
> Bill Cooke, of NASA's meteoroid environment office. "Our
> forecast is in good accord with ... work by other
> astronomers."
> 
> The Leonid shower is made of bits of debris from the
> Tempel-Tuttle comet, which streaks through Earth's inner
> solar system every 33 years.
> 
> It leaves a stream of debris in its wake. Forecasters,
> however, say it's hard to know exactly how many of the
> meteors will be visible.
> 
> "We can predict when Earth will cross a debris stream with
> pretty good accuracy," Cooke said. "The intensity of the
> display is less certain, though, because we don't know how
> much debris is in each stream."
> 
> The first stream will cross over Earth about 4 a.m. ET.
> That stream should produce about two or three dozen meteors
> per hour over North America, NASA said.
> 
> Experts say people who want to watch the shower, which is
> visible with the naked eye, should get as far away from city
> lights as possible. The darker the sky, the brighter the
> meteors will appear.
> Leonids will appear to be shooting almost directly out of
> the planet Mars.
> 
> 
> High-altitude sites are best for viewing, reducing glare
> from the moon, and there's no particular direction one
> should look for the best shot at seeing one, they say.
> 
> The next Tuesday streams will peak over Indonesia and China
> shortly before dawn there. The pair of streams there were
> actually laid down by Tempel-Tuttle in A.D. 1466 and 1533,
> and the two of them crossing at the same time is the reason
> for the 300 or so visible meteors expected.
> 
> "Even if the rates are only half that number, it would
> still be one of the best showers of the year," Cooke said.
> 
> Overall, and especially in the United States, this year's
> Leonids are mild.
> 
> >From 1999 to 2002, the streams produced outbursts of
> more than 1,000 meteors per hour.
> 
> But one added plus this year, Cooke said, is that,
> coincidentally, Mars will be passing nearby at the time of
> the showers.
> 
> "Leonids will appear to be shooting almost directly out of
> the planet Mars," he said.
> 
>  ???
> ????????
> ?????? ???
> ? 
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