History of Leonids/Talk

Difference (from prior major revision) (minor diff, author diff)

Changed: 18c18,20

I just spent an hour (2am-3am Pacific Standard Time) outside in my backyard simply looking up. It was a wonderful sight. Shooting stars came down as frequently as just a few seconds apart. But usually the frequency was around 30 seconds apart. My visibility was rather limited being surrounded by my neighbor's houses. So I could only see those shot overhead, I might have missed many that shot across the horizon. The longest streak I saw in the past hour had a view angle of over 45 degree. The brighter one looked like a speck of fire flying across the sky.

Viewers experience

I just spent an hour (2am-3am, Nov 18, 2001, Pacific Standard Time, North San Jose, California) outside in my backyard simply looking up. It was a wonderful sight. Shooting stars came down as frequently as just a few seconds apart. But usually the frequency was around 30 seconds apart. My visibility was rather limited being surrounded by my neighbor's houses. So I could only see those shot overhead, I might have missed many that shot across the horizon. The longest streak I saw in the past hour had a view angle of over 45 degree. The brighter one looked like a speck of fire flying across the sky.

Added: 26a29

:The meteors appeared to come from the Constellation Leo hence the name Leonids. Actually, the tangent of the earth's orbit around the Sun at this time of the year is pointing at Leo hence the space debris enter the earths atmosphere seeming from the direction of Leo. The meteors are phenominon in earth's atmosphere which is unrelated to the stars of Leo lightyears away. So the position in the sky really depends on the viewer's location. They seemed to come from north-east w.r.t. Melbourne, Australia. When I watched from North California, they seemed to radiate from the south-east towards all directions.

Added: 28a32,33

:smoke trails!!?? Yes, I also saw many of them leaving a trail of light that was wider than just a streak which last for about a second. Smoke trails may be a very appropriate description though I don't believe that were smoke at all. I believe they were ionization in the atmosphere that radiate some secondary light for a brief second. Any scientists or astronomers care to comment on this phenomonon?

	Revision 10 . . (edit) November 23, 2001 6:43 am by (logged).4.254.xxx [added time date and place]
	Revision 9 . . November 20, 2001 8:26 am by (logged).192.137.xxx
	Revision 8 . . November 20, 2001 5:12 am by TimShell
	Revision 7 . . November 19, 2001 12:52 pm by Wmorrow
	Revision 6 . . November 19, 2001 12:49 pm by Wmorrow
	Revision 5 . . November 19, 2001 12:48 pm by Wmorrow
	Revision 4 . . November 19, 2001 12:47 pm by Wmorrow [added Calgary]
	Revision 3 . . November 19, 2001 12:37 pm by (logged).9.128.xxx
	Revision 2 . . November 18, 2001 8:00 pm by (logged).4.254.xxx
	Revision 1 . . November 17, 2001 6:40 am by Larry Sanger [Leonids info--thanks!!!]