Meteors! And how!

[Tomorrow]

There is a unique opportunity for those in the U.S. to witness something not seen in many years. Saturday morning, for about one hour (4:06 a.m. to 5:06 am.), the Aurigid meteor shower will give us an unusually impressive display. The orbit of this one-time comet Keiss has a particularly heavy concentration of particles that the earth shall pass through this year. Some scientists suggest that the count will be between 300 and 1,000 meteors/hour!! (YMMV.) Now that's a shower.

Scientists are even asking for citizens to try to capture photographs of the meteor streaks, as they are sometimes quite unusually colored. (Some of these have even been evident during daytime hours of past showers.)

Peak time will be around 4:30 a.m. PDT., so adjust for your time zone. Here is a link from NASA that will interest some of you.

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/08aug_aurigids.htm

Hopefully this will be the most spectacular show of your lifetime. Hopefully it won't be a dud. You never know.

 

[stratman]

I guess I won't be seeing it.

 

[astrodon]

Unfortunately those of us on the eastern side of the continent may not see much since we will be in daylight at the predicted peak and this stream is not very thick (unlike the Perseids which can be seen +/- 3 or 4 days from their peak on Aug 11th -- by the way, I saw a few dozen very bright Perseids this year). However, don't let that stop you from heading out a few hours before sunrise on Saturday (9/1) morning if you live in the east. You will still likely see a few dozen over an hour. Also, meteor storm "peaks" are a bit uncertain and we may luck out and have the peak occur a few hours earlier.

Also unfortunately, the Moon will be relatively bright in the western sky in the early morning which will hide many of the fainter meteors no matter where you are located.

Keep your fingers crossed for clear skys!

 

[Dolby CP-200]

Hmm looks like it won’t be visible on this side of the Atlantic of well.

 

[j_garcia]

We have some great spots for viewing in the foothills just a few miles away, but even in our yard it is relatively dark enough to star gaze very easily. I've seen a few very impressive showers there. I just happened to wake up early enough to catch a bit of the lunar eclipse the other day. Very cool.

 

[Tomorrow]

We have some great spots for viewing in the foothills just a few miles away, but even in our yard it is relatively dark enough to star gaze very easily. I've seen a few very impressive showers there. I just happened to wake up early enough to catch a bit of the lunar eclipse the other day. Very cool.

This one may not be your average meteor shower, though, John. It's a relatively new discovery and the astronomy community is pretty excited about it. Yeah, it could be a dud, but it could be spectacular, too. It will be very short and very intense. I'm hoping.......

 

[Buckeye_Nut]

There is a unique opportunity for those in the U.S. to witness something not seen in many years. Saturday morning, for about one hour (4:06 a.m. to 5:06 am.),

Please let us know how it goes!! Unfortunately, I wont be watching due to daylight Conditions aren't even that good on the west coast because west coast morning twilight begins shortly after 4am on that day.(or earlier depending on how far north you live) Plus.... the moon is out!!

I'll keep my fingers crossed that you see some impressive bright ones If you're able to catch a fireball or a few meteors with smoke trains in the early morning twilight, it will be one show you'll never forget!!

 

[Dolby CP-200]

Facing towards the sun can do that. I guess little meteorites enter the earth all the time some in the daytime I guess.

 

[Tomorrow]

The report.....

I dutifully went sleepless last night getting our viewing station ready, the coffee and breakfast ready, etc. Was it a Perfect Storm? Or was it the usual meteor faire?

Well...it was sorta in-between. Scientists were pretty certain about the display and peak times. I perhaps misplaced my trust in them. When we went out at 4:00 a.m., the shower was in full swing. It lasted until ~4:30 and stopped on a dime.

Our viewing situation was far from ideal. We could only see about 1/5th the sky, and the moon and town lights presented a light pollution problem. We did luck out, however, and had a cloud-free view...not a guaranteed proposition in coastal Oregon.

We saw ~30 major meteor streaks in that half-hour from 4-4:30. There were no unusual colors noted, but the trails were brightly lit and some were quite long. Even though we couldn't see the smaller, dimmer meteors, it was by far the best display I've seen. It just wasn't the whiz-bang show I hoped for, and there were no fireballs witnessed.


And lastly....all ended well with a Duck football victory over Houston later in the day. (How about Michigan?! Whoa!! The Ducks get them in Ann Arbor next week. I'm worried.)