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The
sky may provide us with an early
holiday gift this year: a possibly
very strong meteor shower! I would
consider this the "must-
see" astronomical event of 2002.
In fact, this is the strongest meteor
shower predicted for many years.
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| THE EVENT: |
Possibly
Strong Meteor Shower
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| WHEN: |
November
19, sometime between 4 and 5
a.m. (CENTRAL
TIME!!!!) (technically the
morning of the 19th)
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| WHERE: |
Look
up, all around the sky!
(Preferably from out in
the countryside, see below)
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| THE
PREDICTIONS: |
(all
times are in CENTRAL TIME):
There are 4 teams of
scientists, all with different
predictions. Generally, all
agree on a peak sometime
between 4 and 5 a.m. on the
morning of the 19th. (but see
below for more on this!!!)
note: I would rather not give
numbers at this point, because
I do not want anyone to
"expect" anything.
Please let me know, however,
if you want me to give you an
idea of how many you may see.
However, based on the
predictions, the number MAY be
in the dozens or possibly
hundreds per hour around the
peak time. Please note that
all of these are just
PREDICTIONS; they may not
actually happen. The only way
to know what will happen is to
be outside on the peak night
(at the peak time), looking
up. |
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VERY
IMPORTANT NOTES: You will see the most meteors
AWAY FROM CITY LIGHTS. Also, once you are outside, try
to minimize your usage of artificial lights.... and
try not to look directly at any bright light sources.
The eyes take a while to get fully adapted to the
dark. Make sure you preserve that! The closer one is
to the city, the fewer meteors will be seen. In fact,
you may see 2 to 5 times as many meteors if you get
far away from artificial lighting! But if one can’t
get away from the city, it still is worth watching the
skies on that morning.
Unfortunately,
the moon will interfere this year... but don't let
that deter you from watching the show. Try to block
the moon with a building or a set of trees, if
possible.
HOWEVER, MAKE
SURE YOU HAVE A CLEAR VIEW TO THE REST OF THE
SKY!
DO NOT watch the
show for a few minutes, and give up. Meteor watching
takes patience. Bring a battery operated alarm clock
(to wake yourself up) if necessary. Do not fall asleep
and miss the show!
The best time,
as noted, is to watch the show CONSISTENTLY between 4
and 5 a.m. on the morning of the 19th. However, it is
highly recommended, if possible, to watch as much as
possible between midnight and 6 a.m. That leaves room
for a bit of error in the predictions.
As noted, all
times are in CENTRAL TIME. Please adjust accordingly
for anyone else watching out of this time zone. Also,
the predictions above are good for North and Central
America only. If you have relatives living in other
parts of the world, e-mail me and I will tell you what
they are predicted to see. (all of the teams predict a
peak for Europe as well)
Sources: Too
numerous to list here. But I want to give credit where
it’s due, so if you want to know where I got this
information, please e-mail me at the address below.
Contact me at: astrophoto@yahoo.com
If you have any
questions, e-mail me (I can also give you more details
on all the predictions)
If you see the
show, PLEASE e-mail me your comments! (what you saw,
how you felt, etc.)
You are my
ambassadors! Feel free to pass this information on
(including my e-mail address) to all your friends and
family.
Thanks for
reading to the end!
Best wishes, and
clear skies!!!!!
Mark Egan
Special thanks goes to Mark for
letting me post this Leonid Brief!
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