Observing and Events - a thread in the Astronomy Matters forum

Post and Replies « Thread « Forum « Nucleus Discussion Forums «

Observing and Events post and replies

Return to the Observing and Events thread
Login to post to this thread

Leonid meteor shower -November 16, 2009 - Nov 16 2009 12:37PM
Ajay Narayanan 16 Posts	National Geographic is reporting that you might see between 30 to 300 trails per hour radiating from the constellation Leo. Leo is supposed to rise between 1-3 a.m. depending on your location in the north eastern part of the sky. The full article is here: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/11/091116-leonids-meteor-shower-best-2009.html I will have no luck seeing this given the weather here in western WA. If you want to plan out observations, see the next post for a resource that will help you know the sky conditions in advance. It's an astronomer's forecast... Ajay Post edited November 16, 2009 at 12:37 PM EST. Post edited November 16, 2009 at 12:55 PM EST. Login to reply

Replies to Leonid meteor shower -November 16, 2009

Planning Observations with an Astronomer's forecast... - Nov 16 2009 1:00PM
Ajay Narayanan 16 Posts	An invaluable resource is the clearsky chart maintained by Attila Danko with data from the Canadian Metereological Center. The forecast is for North America only and goes out two days with hourly information for cloud cover, transparency, seeing, darkness etc. Go here and find the location nearest to you that has a premade chart: http://www.cleardarksky.com/csk/ If you click on the hourly blocks, a map showing conditions will open up for that hour. I have found that the predictions work for me about 80 -90% of the time. This is an impression I have gathered over the last two years. People in other locations find the page doesn't work for them and others swear by it. You can also find widgets on the web if you do a search that will display all this information on your desktop. Clear skies to you. Ajay Post edited November 16, 2009 at 12:48 PM EST. Post edited November 16, 2009 at 6:55 PM EST. Login to reply \| Condense

Planning Observations with an Astronomer's forecast... - Nov 16 2009 1:00PM

Ajay Narayanan
16 Posts

An invaluable resource is the clearsky chart maintained by Attila Danko with data from the Canadian Metereological Center. The forecast is for North America only and goes out two days with hourly information for cloud cover, transparency, seeing, darkness etc.

Go here and find the location nearest to you that has a premade chart: http://www.cleardarksky.com/csk/
If you click on the hourly blocks, a map showing conditions will open up for that hour.

I have found that the predictions work for me about 80 -90% of the time. This is an impression I have gathered over the last two years. People in other locations find the page doesn't work for them and others swear by it.

You can also find widgets on the web if you do a search that will display all this information on your desktop.

Clear skies to you.

Ajay

Post edited November 16, 2009 at 12:48 PM EST.

Post edited November 16, 2009 at 6:55 PM EST.

Login to reply | Condense

Re: Leonid meteor shower -November 16, 2009 - Nov 16 2009 7:52PM
Ajay Narayanan 16 Posts	Here's a cool Java based tool called the "FLUXTIMATOR" (not kidding) set up by NASA to help you calculate the meteor shower activity at your site. The Automatic Systematic Articulated Global Meteor Shower FLUXTIMATOR Have fun with it. Ajay Login to reply \| Condense

Video of Giant Fire Ball not part of the Leonids - Nov 19 2009 12:52PM
Ajay Narayanan 16 Posts	The sighting was in the Western U.S. Link to KSL TV in Salt Lake Utah is below. They have video footage with interviews with professors at University of Utah's Astronomy department. http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=8714738 Ajay Login to reply \| Condense