Look out for Leonids on 17 Nov!

[acey]

The annual Leonid meteor shower is due to peak on 17th November at around 2130 (UK time). There are predictions that it will be an unusually large shower, comparable to the 1999 showing.

There's no Moon so it would be a great time to make a trip to a dark site. And weather need not be a problem - I saw the 1999 shower through thick clouds. The meteors lit them up!

[skye at night]

Let's hope it is a good one then!

Just also noticed that the peak time is exactly the same as the 'shuttle' is scheduled to blast off!

Now I know the risk is probably minimal, but surely they would rather avoid ANY possible increase in risks!

Steve

[skye at night]

from CBS news....

NASA officials are hopeful the conflict can be resolved but as of this writing, the unmanned missions remain on the range and launch preparations are continuing.

Even if the first satellite launch moves and Atlantis takes off on Nov. 12, the Leonids meteor shower is expected to peak on Nov. 17, the day the crew plans to carry out the mission's second spacewalk. Some 300 "shooting stars" per hour are expected at the shower's peak. While the shower is not believed to pose a threat to the shuttle, NASA planners are assessing whether the spacewalk can safely proceed as planned if Atlantis is able to take off on time.

The shuttle's launch window closes Nov. 20, the start of a so-called beta-angle cutout. During such cutouts, the angle between the sun and the space station's orbit results in temperature issues for the docked shuttle-station "stack." The upcoming cutout ends on Dec. 5 and a fresh shuttle launch window opens on Dec. 6.

If Atlantis is unable to take off in November, NASA will have to contend with the Geminids meteor shower during the December launch window, a shower that poses a more significant risk to the shuttle. Even though icy debris from the Leonids travels twice as fast as the rocky fragments that make up the Geminids, the latter is spread out over several days while the former is concentrated over just a few hours.

"Leonids of the same mass have four times the striking power of the Geminids," said Bill Cooke, an astronomer with the Meteoroid Environments Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center. "But ... the Geminids have a higher flux enhancement than the Leonids because it's such a big shower."

Made up of icy debris from comet Tempel-Tuttle, the Leonids are expected to produce some 300 shooting stars per hour at their peak around 2:43 p.m. EST on Nov. 17 when Earth will plow through the debris stream. Cooke said initial predictions called for up to 500 per hour and the revised rate represents an "outburst" as opposed to a "storm."

[johnb]

Im confused about the times ?, seen load of differrent times shown, I live just south of london and was planning watch from about midnight till 2 ? (i guess there is no point if its cloudy ?)

John B

[acey]

I understand the peak is predicted around 9.30 tonight but it's worth looking for several hours either side.

Stated times often vary because of local time differences.

Here's hoping!

[johnb]

err im a relative beginner but if the shower is in the area of Leo i guess i wont see much until Leo rises which is around midnight for me (i think ?)

John B

[Beyond_Vision]

err im a relative beginner but if the shower is in the area of Leo i guess i wont see much until Leo rises which is around midnight for me (i think ?)

John B

The radiant is from Leo but the meteors could be seen coming from that direction and travelling above the horizon quite a while before Leo rises

[cloud9]

im from Kent in England and as you will probably have gathered i am a complete beginner in this field. I was wondering which direction do i need to look from Kent for the Leonids tonight. North, South, East or West

[simon84]

Well Leo Rises roughly just to the left of East so keep an eye out in that general direction. According to Stellarium Leo rises at about 11pm tonight so like Acey said its worth looking out either side of it.

I've got a beautifully clear night here tonight which I didnt expect so I've got the four seasons sleeping bag out on the sun lounger and am about to camp out with my binos.

Hope everyone else has a resonable evening.

Cheers,

Simon.

[Jupiter Martin]

As others have said East is the place to be looking. Thick cloud rolled in over my area not a lot of hope seeing much for me, Was really hopeful as it was clear most of the night till half hour ago

[Teigh]

Predictably, it didn't just rain, it poured out here in the Western Isles. Typical!

Oh well, there's pleanty of other things to look out for.

[acey]

I was looking between 8pm and 10pm.

There was intermittent cloud, poor transparency, and I was in my light-polluted back garden, hence a paltry limiting magnitude of 4 in the clear bits.

My kids saw a couple each and were pretty unimpressed.

I saw none at all!

But at least we tried. And there's always next year.

[DarkerSky]

Saw 4 meteors total over about an hour's observing through holes in the cloud. The best one was in fact a Taurid. Fairly slow white/yellow colour at about mag -1. Tracked northwards from my location just west of Auriga

[Takahashi]

Complete cloud-cover & pi**ing rain here, from about 2pm on the 17th 'til now, two days later. I've had my new gear for almost a month now, and managed a whole three hours session so far.