Mara Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 The Orionid meteor shower, best viewing time midnight-dawn on 10/21. Meteors are leftovers from Halley's comet - the Earth is passing through trails of its debris and dust. http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20091020/sc_...rpeaksovernight I'm pretty psyched about this. Usually when there's something cool going on in the heavens, it's all overcast here. Right now it's clear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaotica Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 cool... I'll probally be up so I'll take a look and see what I can see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolinda Bonz Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 kewl! thanks for posting this Mara. unfortunately, i'm more likely to see it when i wake up than before bed. http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/RolindaBonz/offtobed.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tick Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 I'll probably wake up around 3 am to take a pee, look out the bathroom window with one eye open, say that's cool and go back to bed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troutman Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 QUOTE (tick @ Oct 20 2009, 07:18 PM)I'll probably wake up around 3 am to take a pee, look out the bathroom window with one eye open, say that's cool and go back to bed. party pooper!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonatine Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 We've got clear skies promised tonight, so I'll be out in the back garden, red torch, binoculars and flask of tea to hand. The Orionid shower is quite decent, not as intense or spectacular as the Leonid or Perseid Showers, but well worth waiting up for nonetheless Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mara Posted October 21, 2009 Author Share Posted October 21, 2009 Saw quite a few around 3am. (I'd gotten up to work out). Nice clear skies out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natch Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 Crap...I'm usually on top of this stuff. I didn't get up this morning to watch. I love watching meteor showers. The best ones of the year are usually the Leonids on the morning of November 18th and the Perseids - August 10-12. The best meteor shower I ever saw was the Leonid meteor shower in 2003. It was literally "raining" meteors. They were so bright that they made my house light up. The Orionids can be fun to watch, since meteors can come in bunches. The next ones to watch are the Leonids in November, and the Geminids in December (13, 14th) Keep in mind that the dates mentioned are when these showers reach their peak. Generally, you can see meteors associated with these showers a few days before and a few days after their peak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonatine Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 bugger - no chance of seeing anything round these parts: night sky is full of thick cloud. So much for the weather forecast saying the exact opposite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolinda Bonz Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 i saw 6 this morning,,,the 5th one left a sizzling trail like Tinkerbell. better than fireworks they're so quick! so can one of you astro-type-people esplain what the comet itself is doing? (or should i google it ) i understand orbit, but the comet seems to be touring or something. what motivates a comet, i wonder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natch Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 QUOTE (Rolinda Bonz @ Oct 21 2009, 11:13 PM)i saw 6 this morning,,,the 5th one left a sizzling trail like Tinkerbell. better than fireworks they're so quick! so can one of you astro-type-people esplain what the comet itself is doing? (or should i google it ) i understand orbit, but the comet seems to be touring or something. what motivates a comet, i wonder Hey Bonzie! Long time no chat... As for the explanation of what the comet is doing, it's orbiting the sun, just as Earth and all of the other planets, comets, asteroids, etc....are doing. Think of comets as big, dirty iceballs. Similar to what you'd make with your hands if you tried to make a snowball with mud in it, except it's much much bigger. As these comets orbit the sun, depending on their proximity or distance from the sun, they melt a little bit. As they melt, the "mud" or small particles of debris is left behind. The meteor shower is simply the process of Earth passing through this debris field. Most of the debris is very small, about the size of a grain of sand. Some of them can be larger, and could possibly be seen on earth as a fireball. The dates of each meteor shower are always the same each year because Earth passes that same location every year. We can "predict" the dates of the showers just the same as we can "predict" the seasons of the year. I became fascinated with this stuff when I was a kid living in Long Island, NY. I was in my backyard one early evening, I think it was 1977. It wasn't even dark out yet. As I was about to head into my house, something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. When I turned to look, I saw a huge orange ball crossing the sky. It left behind a trail of smoke as it went from west to east. I stood with my mouth agape, not believing what I was seeing. I ran inside to tell my mother, who told me I probably had just seen a large meteor. Sure enough, it was mentioned in the newspaper the next morning. It was so large, that it had reportedly shown up on the radars at Long Island MacArthur Airport. It was estimated to have been about the size of a bus. It disappeared off the radars over the Long Island Sound, where it likely dropped harmlessly into the waters off Long Island. From that point forward, I've been fascinated with meteors and meteor showers. Watching the Perseids every August is a tradition in my family. We sit out in the backyard or on the beach on a blanket with a couple of bottles of wine, and relax while we watch for meteors. Astronomers have gotten better over the years at estimating the intensity of these showers. I'm keeping a close eye on the predictions for the Leonids in November. In my previous post, I had said the one in 2003 was the best I'd ever seen, but it was actually 2001. Nonetheless, I'm glad I got up at 3am to watch it. It was the most spectacular sky show I'd ever seen. I woke up my son, who was 8 at the time. He'll never forget it. Here is a link to one prediction about the Leonids this year: Space.com - Strong Leonid Meteor Shower Predicted for 2009 Enjoy.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
workingcinderellaman Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 I love astronomy and meteor showers are awesome. We had cloud cover for this one. I happened to be in South America the last time Haley passed by in 1986. I was in a small town in the south of Chile with very little city light so it was quite spectacular. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolinda Bonz Posted October 24, 2009 Share Posted October 24, 2009 QUOTE (Natch @ Oct 22 2009, 06:25 AM) QUOTE (Rolinda Bonz @ Oct 21 2009, 11:13 PM)i saw 6 this morning,,,the 5th one left a sizzling trail like Tinkerbell. better than fireworks they're so quick! so can one of you astro-type-people esplain what the comet itself is doing? (or should i google it ) i understand orbit, but the comet seems to be touring or something. what motivates a comet, i wonder Hey Bonzie! Long time no chat... As for the explanation of what the comet is doing, it's orbiting the sun, just as Earth and all of the other planets, comets, asteroids, etc....are doing. Think of comets as big, dirty iceballs. Similar to what you'd make with your hands if you tried to make a snowball with mud in it, except it's much much bigger. As these comets orbit the sun, depending on their proximity or distance from the sun, they melt a little bit. As they melt, the "mud" or small particles of debris is left behind. The meteor shower is simply the process of Earth passing through this debris field. Most of the debris is very small, about the size of a grain of sand. Some of them can be larger, and could possibly be seen on earth as a fireball. The dates of each meteor shower are always the same each year because Earth passes that same location every year. We can "predict" the dates of the showers just the same as we can "predict" the seasons of the year. I became fascinated with this stuff when I was a kid living in Long Island, NY. I was in my backyard one early evening, I think it was 1977. It wasn't even dark out yet. As I was about to head into my house, something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. When I turned to look, I saw a huge orange ball crossing the sky. It left behind a trail of smoke as it went from west to east. I stood with my mouth agape, not believing what I was seeing. I ran inside to tell my mother, who told me I probably had just seen a large meteor. Sure enough, it was mentioned in the newspaper the next morning. It was so large, that it had reportedly shown up on the radars at Long Island MacArthur Airport. It was estimated to have been about the size of a bus. It disappeared off the radars over the Long Island Sound, where it likely dropped harmlessly into the waters off Long Island. From that point forward, I've been fascinated with meteors and meteor showers. Watching the Perseids every August is a tradition in my family. We sit out in the backyard or on the beach on a blanket with a couple of bottles of wine, and relax while we watch for meteors. Astronomers have gotten better over the years at estimating the intensity of these showers. I'm keeping a close eye on the predictions for the Leonids in November. In my previous post, I had said the one in 2003 was the best I'd ever seen, but it was actually 2001. Nonetheless, I'm glad I got up at 3am to watch it. It was the most spectacular sky show I'd ever seen. I woke up my son, who was 8 at the time. He'll never forget it. Here is a link to one prediction about the Leonids this year: Space.com - Strong Leonid Meteor Shower Predicted for 2009 Enjoy.... the size of a bus??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blonde77th Posted October 24, 2009 Share Posted October 24, 2009 Interesting but the size of a Bus holy crap what if it hits land . Scary too . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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