(meteorobs) 1833 Leonids

[Richard Taibi]

Hi Steven,

Thanks for your response on meteorobs.  When you asked about Nov 13 I had a 
brief panic attack!  However, it was the morning of Nov 13, 1833.  I checked 
the Journal of Science and Arts article, by Olmsted.

Your point about the visual impact of the storm on people all across N. 
America (and even into the Atlantic Ocean), is a good one.  It made people 
very sky conscious.  Of course, too, the Leonid storm is what got the press 
and Olmsted's research made the memory trace more indelible on our culture.  
There have been many earlier storms, but the press did not capitalize on 
them,or, it didn't exist so there was no dissemination of news.  There was 
an 1803 Lyrid storm seen in the US too, but it didn't catch fire in the 
press and was not widely documented.  Nov. 13, 1833 had a confluence of 
widespread clear skies, many newspapers, many educated correspondents all 
over North America, and a curious investigator in the person of Denison 
Olmsted who doggedly documented the phenomenon and followed up for several 
years.

Thanks for your interest in the article.

Best wishes, Rich