I was outside from around midnight until 6, It wasn’t as great as I thought it would be, but it was pretty good.
You know Vinnie, you didn’t have to stay up to watch them.
Where I was, it was really nice. Middle of Ohio, deserted country road. Some friends and I went out and watched. Cool experience.
Last night a meteorite killed my dog. :mad:
I’m blaming YOU, Vinnie! You and your wishing upon shooting stars.
[sub]And Jiminy Cricket, too. Screw that little instigator. [/sub]
I think yer blamin’ the wrong guy. Read this
Military Concerned That Meteors Will Rally Taliban
Though the Taliban is in retreat, generals and
advisors continue to warn the public not to consider
the war already won. The following statement was made
by Richard Stohr, a two-star general.
“First let me say that we are pleased with the
operation thus far. We have liberated Kabuul. Several
high-ranking Al Quida members are confirmed dead.
However, the fighting is far from over. Osama Bin
Laden remains alive. Though diminished, Taliban forces
are still a threat to our ground troops. But the
pressing danger is the Leonid meteor shower. We
strongly suspect that Bin Laden will come out of his
cave tonight and use of the once-in-a-lifetime
magnitude of this years meteor shower. He will be
able, at a rate that may rise to a thousand times per
minute, make wishes. For each shooting star, Bin Laden
will be able to wish for more troops, more ammuntion,
the death of Americans, or citizens of allied nations.
He may even wish for nuclear weapons with first strike
capability.
But we have prepared for this. I announce
Operation Ziggy. As you can see in this chart, the
lovable character is also wiching on a star. It is the
duty of every patriotic American to watch the Leonids
and wish against Bin Laden’s wishes. I, personally,
will remain awake for as long as meteors remain
visible. General Powell and the Joint Chiefs will do
the same. Several of our senator have also volunteered
to patricipate. Senator McCain told me ‘I survived a
damn POW camp. There’s no way in hell I’m letting my
country be taken out by some prick in a turban,’.
Support was bipartisan. Senator Liebowitz presented me
with a list of Democrats who would also participate.
He saluted me and said ‘There are 51 stars that I care
about very deeply. The Star of David that is the
symbol of my faith and the 50 stars on our nation’s
flag which are the symbols of not only this great
country but of liberty and freedom themselves.’ But
the more of you who participate the more successful we
will be.”
The General then took questions from members of
the press. He refused to give specific locations for
the staging of Operation Ziggy, or to give the
specific wording that would be used, citing national security.
Looks to me like your problem is with meteorologists.
As for me, the only meteorites I saw were on CNN the next morning. It’s very difficult for me to stay awake all night.
But have you been following the research of the past few years? Astronomers plotted out the orbits of cometary debris for decades, using recorded observations of major meteor activity. So when you follow the orbit over decades, you know when the earth’s orbit falls in the same spot as the Great Meteor Shower of 1833 or whatever. And that’s just what happened this time, the predictions were confirmed.
But that doesn’t mean squat to me because it was overcast at my location.
Actually, Chas.E, I attended a talk on this very topic given at a meeting of the Division of Dynamical Astronomy of the American Astronomical Society. The speaker predicted that the peak rate would approach 10,000 meteors per hour.
Point is, you can find predictions for a wide variety of rates, but the media pick up on the wildest claims, and when they do that, folks are almost inevitably disappointed.
[sub]I admit it…[/sub]
DON’T HURT ME, PLEASE!!!
A few years ago a few members of my hiking club, myself included, backpacked Havasu Canyon. The night before the hike, we camped on my friend’s land in Prescott Valley, a high-desert area. Everyone else pitched a tent but I unrolled my Thermarest on the ground, my sleeping bag on top of that, and slept under the stars. As I was lying on my back with my eyes still open, I saw a meteor engulfed in flame streak across the sky trailing an orange blaze of light.
Sorry, but nothing I saw early in the morning of 11/18 could ever compare to that.
That reminds me of a camping trip my family went on back in 1972 (or so) in Colorado National Monument. One night, there was no moon out, so it was very dark. Daddy was the last to bed and, the next morning, he told us that a meteorite had passed over VERY low, and was so bright, it cast visible shadows! He said it burned up before it hit the ground, which disappointed me, because I wanted to go look for it.