It’s time for the Leonids and this year they’re supposed to be a doozy. The best viewing times for the West coast are November 18 at 8:00 PM and November 19 at 2:30 AM. It’s supposed to be spectacular, with dozen, hundreds, maybe even thousands of meteors falling from the sky! If we’re lucky, we won’t see a meteor “shower” but a meteor “storm”!
What’s more, this may well be the last such “storm” for many, many years. Unless you’re planning on living to the year 2131, you’d better take advantage of this opportunity.
There are a few downsides, however. On Nov. 18, the moon will be nearly full and may drown out a lot of the sky. Furthermore, this typically is a very cloudy time of year in the NW. Finally, trust me, if you live in the city, light pollution will drown out a lot of the sky, too. (I know some of my friends were disappointed by the Perseids last August, but that’s because you just can’t stargaze within city limits. They insist they can see stars from their homes, but the during the shower they didn’t see a single meteor. I live on the outskirts of a pretty small town, and we still have quite a bit of light pollution but I still saw a few meteors before I had to go to bed.)
On the plus side, the first storm is predicted for 8:00 PM PST, which is a pretty darn reasonable hour for meteor watching. So find a dark spot AWAY FROM TOWN, cuddle up warm, watch the NE corner of the sky, and (barring unfavorable weather) get ready for a show!
Thanks for reminding me, I completely forgot. Last year was spectacular - if you missed that you should try again despite the nearly full moon. In the past couple of years it’s been far more active than the Perseids. I saw about 4 per minute at the peak last year, even from a suburban area.
You don’t have to look towards the constelation Leo. Meteors appear to fly from that point in the sky, but it can appear anywhere. Better to lie down and look straight up so you see as much of the sky as possible. Or look as far away from the moon as possible, that might be a more important concern this year. Also, meteors tend to be more active after midnight.
Unfortunately, the forecast here in the Chicago area is 60% chance of rain, and it’s overcast right now, so I don’t hold out much hope. What a rotten time of year to have a meteor shower. I don’t suppose there’s anyone I can write to get it rescheduled?
I got up around 5 AM (Eastern Time) and caught the “tail-end” of the shower. It wasn’t exactly spectacular, but definitely worth getting up and going outside at that hour (38F). The moon had already set, Jupiter was almost right overhead and Leo and environs were obligingly hovering in the one area of sky in my backyard not screened by tree branches.
h.sapiens: all requests for re-scheduling must be submitted in writing NLT than sixty days before the originally scheduled date.
I was pumped for this, dammit! I had the coffee perker set to start at 4AM and everything. I got up at 4, saw it was cloudy as all heck, waited for the coffee to finish so I could put it in a thermos and went back to bed.
I went out at 5:15 this morning, and caught about 2 or 3 a minute for 10 minutes. Last year’s show was better. (Plus I had my 6 year old daughter with me last year. Watching meteors with a 6 year old is great fun, and we had a wonderful time. Trust me.)
In Chi - it was worth waking up, but not spectacular. Crystal clear night - which surprised me cause yesterday eve was so rainy.
Maybe one a minute or so. But many bright long ones. We laid on our backs in our family room, looking out our east facing sliding doors. The moon washed out much of the west. Very comfy viewing, tho our horizon wasn’t the best.
