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Below is a message from Roy Bishop reporting only 2 meteors (only 1 Leonid) seen during a hour early on Sunday morning. I myself only looked at the sky at home for about 5 minutes (sky mostly clear then) and saw none at all. Likewise Steve Shaw reported seeing only a couple over an hour's period? In the current Blomidon Naturalists Society newsletter (http://www.blomidonnaturalists.ca), Roy says in his regular "What's In The Sky" column that we should look forward to the GEMINID METEOR SHOWER, which peaks on the night of Dec. 13/14. Please see his short article there for more details on the sky that night and on sizes and speeds and heights of these meteors. Thanks, Roy, and cheers from Jim in Wolfville ---------- From: Roy Bishop <rg@ns.sympatico.ca> Date: Sun, 19 Nov 2006 11:49:14 -0400 To: Jim Wolford <jimwolford@eastlink.ca> Subject: Re: Weekend Meteor Shower for New England -- Washington Post, Nov. 17/06 Hi Jim, Thanks for the message. I did not see your message until Sunday morning, but I was aware of the possible outburst. Here is a message I sent to local amateur astronomers this morning: "I watched the eastern sky from 00:00 to 01:00 AST today and saw two meteors: one sporadic, and one Leonid (the latter about 2nd magnitude at approximately 00:50 AST). Sky &Telescope did said that there "could" be a brief Leonid outburst within a few minutes of 00:45 AST (November issue, p. 58)." Perhaps I should have watched until 01:30, but I had put in a 20-hour day including giving a talk in Moncton, so I went to bed! Roy On 18-Nov-06, at 6:50 p.m., Jim Wolford wrote: > > > > > From Washington Post, Nov. 17/06 > > Weekend Meteor Shower for New England > > By MELISSA TRUJILLO > The Associated Press > Friday, November 17, 2006; 7:35 PM > > > BOSTON -- Stargazers in New England, New York and Western Europe > could see > an "outburst" of hundreds of meteors this weekend during the annual > Leonid > meteor shower _ if the skies are clear enough. > > A typical Leonid shower in November brings 10 to 20 meteors an hour > under > ideal viewing conditions _ a dark sky filled with stars and free of > light > pollution. > > But this year, the Earth is passing through a denser trail of > debris left by > the Comet Tempel-Tuttle, causing a higher concentration of meteors, > said > Brian Marsden, a senior astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian > Center for > Astrophysics in Cambridge. > > Meteors are caused by bits of space debris, in this case debris > left by the > comet. Dust and debris from the comet burn up in the atmosphere and > create > the streaks of light. > > The Comet Tempel-Tuttle passed through the inner solar system in > 1998, and > Marsden said the longer its been since the comet passed, the fewer > meteors > are expected. > > "The surprise is that we are already eight going on nine years > after the > comet was here," he said. > > The rush of meteors was expected between 11:45 p.m. and 1:30 a.m. EST > Saturday and Sunday. Meteor forecasters predict 100 to 200 meteors > an hour > during the peak, said Alan MacRobert, the senior editor of Sky & > Telescope > magazine, based in Cambridge. > > Skygazers in New England, eastern New York and eastern Canada have > the best > chance of catching the action in North America because they'll most > directly > face the oncoming shower, MacRobert said. > > "The place you really want to be is westernmost Europe or England," > he said. > "They'll be ideally placed." > > But other parts of the country may catch sight of the outburst if > it arrives > a few hours late, he said. > > The National Weather Service predicts partly cloudy skies in > southern New > England and mostly cloudy weather in northern New England and New > York for > Saturday and Sunday. > > "It's probably not going to be an ideal time to view any meteor > showers," > meteorologist Charlie Foley said. > > ___ > > On the Net: > > Sky & Telescope: http://www.skytonight.com
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