STAR GAZER
THE INTERNATIONAL EDITION
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Horkheimer: Greetings, greetings fellow star gazers. Every November
we are treated to a meteor shower which appears to originate from
Leo the Lion. So we call this event the Leonid meteor shower.
Last year it was a dud because bright moonlight wiped out all
but the very brightest of meteors. But this year ta da!, there'll
be no moonlight to interfere. So if you get far away from city
lights and it's clear out you should be able to catch quite a
few. Plus some experts predict a stronger than usual shower this
year.
Now the best time to look this year is between the hours of midnight and dawn next Tuesday morning November 17th. We've set up our skies at the mid point about 3 a.m. facing east where half way up from the horizon you'll see the bright stars which make up Leo the Lion. The front part of Leo is marked by stars which trace out a sickle shape or backwards question mark. And Leo's rear is marked by three stars which form a triangle. Plus this year you'll see a bright light above Leo's head which usually isn't there, planet number four, rouge-gold Mars.
Now every November on the night or nights of the Leonid meteor shower bright streaks of light which we call meteors flash across the sky and appear to come from Leo's head. But it's only an optical illusion because the meteors are million of times closer than Leo's stars. You see meteors are nothing more than tiny bits of comet debris that slam into our Earth's atmosphere so fast that they heat up and incinerate and cause gasses in our Earth's atmosphere to briefly light up, kind of like the gasses in a neon tube. So the streak of light you're seeing is not actually the meteor itself but the lit up gaseous path along which the speck is traveling. "But where do these specks come from ?", you ask.
Well most meteors are caused by comet litter. You see every time a comet visits our Sun it sheds some of its tail and leaves a trail of debris in its orbit. So after hundreds of years and dozens of passages many comet orbits become filled with tiny specks of comet debris. The comet which causes the Leonids is named comet Tempel-Tuttle. It last paid our sun a visit back in 1998 and won't be back again until 2031. But every November our Earth plows right through comet Tempel-Tuttle's littered orbital pathway so that many specks of debris slam into our Earth's atmosphere and leave the trails we call the Leonid meteors. Now most of these specks are very tiny and leave very faint trails but there are always a few bigger specks and they can leave brilliant trails which will make you gasp with delight.
Because there is no bright moonlight this year
you can expect to see 15 to 20 meteors per hour or even more if
you follow the rules for maximum viewing. Simply get as far from
city lights as possible and watch from about midnight to dawn
Tuesday morning. Lay back in a sleeping bag or a lawn chair with
your feet pointing east and slowly scan the sky back and forth.
And if you do that for at least a couple hours you should see
a few bright ones, more perhaps toward dawn. Do not use a telescope
or binoculars. This is strictly a naked eye event, which is my
favorite kind. See how many you can count in one hour's time.
Keep looking up!
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Horkheimer: Next Tuesday morning from midnight to dawn we'll be treated to a better than usual Leonid meteor shower. Every November our Earth plows through a river of comet debris and when some of these specks of debris slam into our Earth's atmosphere at speeds of 160 thousand miles per hour they heat up the gasses in our Earth's atmosphere and leave trails of light which we call the Leonid meteors because they appear to come from Leo the lion. You may see 15 to 20 or even more per hour if you get far from city lights and watch a couple of hours from midnight to dawn. Lay back on a lawn chair and slowly scan the sky and have plenty of patience. No telescopes allowed it's a naked eye event only, which is my favorite kind. Keep looking up!
Please give us your comments. (Click
Here)
* This week's Sky At A Glance
and Planet Roundup from Sky & Telescope.Starry Night Deluxe was used to produce this episode
of Star Gazer![[SmilinJack]](jack1sm.jpg)
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