Meteor Shower Tue/Wed

Strong Meteor Shower Peaks Wednesday Morning

While most annual meteor showers are pretty minor events for the casual observer, the Orionids are one of the two or three best in the year, especially as this year there will be no moon to interfere with seeing the fainter meteors.

Skywatchers with dark skies and good weather could see a shooting star every 5 to 10 minutes, with brief bouts that might prove busier.

You can start to watch for this shower late Tuesday night, heading into Wednesday morning. But don't expect the evening session to be as fruitful as the early morning viewing. The shower's maximum activity — from the heart of the cosmic debris stream — will occur at 6 a.m. EDT Wednesday, just before dawn in eastern North America. So the best viewing times will be just before dawn in the eastern part of the country, and around 3 a.m. out West.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20091019/sc_space/strongmeteorshowerpeakswednesdaymorning

So far, no big shows.

Not to worry -- they will storm again by 2032.

The Perseids (August 12-13) produce a mild storm (100-200/hr) about once a decade.

The Taurids (Oct 30-Nov 1) also occasionally put on a good show with big bolides (fireballs).

--d!

What I want to see is one like the one that was witnessed in Europe in the nineteenth century.

They thought the world was ending.

We're "due" for something big. I just hope it isn't a gamma-ray discharge from a nearby collapsar like Eta Carinae should become ("any day now").

Betelgeuse is also headed for supernovosity like a bat out of hell, but in B's case, that could be in 10,000 years, or Friday.

Maybe Planet X really WILL swing by during Christmas week of 2012. I'm thinking the excitement then will be from a restored, HD version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

--d!

I mean... OH CRAP!

There's always tommorow.

--d!

Dr. Lecter? … Dr. Lecter? … Dr. Lecter? … Dr. Lecter? …

Clarice was the name of Rudolph's girlfriend long before Dr. Lecter developed a taste for Chianti.

She sang "There's Always Tomorrow (for Dreams to Come True)"

--d!

No Xmas posts allowed before Thanksgiving!

So I'll be looking at the constellation of Orion this winter, wondering if a DNA-shredding gamma-ray burst is hurtling towards me at 186,000 miles per second. Keeping the mind that the light we're seeing now pre-dates Columbus.


Yay.



Maybe this is why we're seeing so many UFO's nowadays... the space aliens want to get samples before we're fried!

expo in LV-- it was breathtaking.

for her last potty break of the night. I was looking up at the stars while she was doing her thing -- first clear night in almost two weeks.

I had just looked to the right of Orion, picking out Taurus and the Pleiades, when a rather large streak of light shot over the head of Taurus, arcing downward over the Seven Sisters and flashing out in a lovely burst of light about 45 degrees above the horizon. It was quite impressive!

Thanks for posting this. Since I'm always up at 5:30 am (CDT) on weekdays, I will definitely be on the lookout Wed. morning -- providing the sky is clear.

sw

watching for about ten minutes only produced one visible meteor.

Tesha

:-(