NEATORAMA HOME | LITE/MOBILE VERSION | BEST OF NEATORAMA

Leonid Meteor Shower Tonight

By Minnesotastan in Science & Tech on Nov 16, 2009 at 10:17 pm


Leonids 1833Tonight’s event is predicted to be “strong” with a couple dozen meteors per hour visible in the United States, several hundred per hour in Asia.  This pales in comparison to some historic Leonid displays -

The meteor storm of 1833 was of truly superlative strength. One estimate is over one hundred thousand meteors an hour, but another, done as the storm abated, estimated in excess of two hundred thousand meteors an hour over the entire region of North America east of the Rocky Mountains.

One favorable factor tonight is that the moon is in its new phase, allowing better detection of the fainter meteors.  The best viewing will occur between 1 a.m. and daybreak.

Link.  Image credit.


Share

Tags: ,


FROM THE NEATORAMA SHOP



COMMENT
  1. pwscott
    Nov 16th, 2009 at 10:26 pm

    This is a great show put on by the universe. I've seen a couple of them over the years and was impressed. Hope I can stay up and watch this one. :p

  2. Johnny Cat
    Nov 17th, 2009 at 1:47 am

    As windy clouds roll in. Thanks for reminding me, :P

  3. Tim Giachetti
    Nov 17th, 2009 at 2:12 am

    Same here Johnny. Been overcast and raining for 2 days and forecast no sun for the next few.

  4. Greg R.
    Nov 17th, 2009 at 5:06 am

    Spent over an hour staring into the sky between 4am and 5am ET and only saw four that were definite, might have seen many more very faint ones but that could have been my eyes messing with me. A bit disappointing but still very exciting when a good bright one came by. I sincerely wish I can experience an event like they did in 1833 at some point in my life. I'm sure it was breathtaking.

  5. neatoman
    Nov 17th, 2009 at 8:52 am

    disappointing. night sky wasn't that clear here in eastern georgia. i didn't see much of anything this morning?

  6. alicia
    Nov 17th, 2009 at 10:40 am

    where is that drawing/painting supposed to be?

  7. Minnesotastan
    Nov 17th, 2009 at 10:47 am

    Alicia, the link for "image credit" in the post offers the following: "The most famous depiction of the 1833 actually produced in 1889 for the Adventist book Bible Readings for the Home Circle - the engraving is by Adolf Vollmy based upon an original painting by the Swiss artist Karl Jauslin, that is in turn based on a first-person account of the 1833 storm by a minister, Joseph Harvey Waggoner on his way from Florida to New Orleans."

    So presumably the scene is somewhere along the Gulf Coast.

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT

Neatorama Comment Policy
You don't have to register or login to comment, but it's easier if you do so. Comments aren't censored, but those that are abusive or off-topic may be edited or deleted.


Keep track of the comments with Comment RSS

Lijit Search

T-SHIRTS FROM THE NEATORAMA SHOP

WRITE YOUR OWN NEATORAMA POST
Got a neat story? Share it with the world by writing your very own Neatorama blog post with the Upcoming Queue. Who knows, you might just win something ...

Here's how to get started:
FAQ | Tips