(meteorobs) when to look for the Leonids?

[orink at t6b.com]

Hi, Mark:

  As just another amateur who has done some reading, and having only slight experience with meteor showers and midwest weather patterns, I still would say it will be worthwhile to go after the Leonid shower meteors on the nights of, say, 15 through 20 November, 2009, with 16-17, 17-18 and 18-19 being the better choices if clear sky pertains. During any of those days, you can check the weather and cloud patterns with the GOES satellites and get a sense of where you might find clear skies.

  Here in the midwest we have large light domes over our cities and often have clouds or fog. The 1999-2002 period was centered around one of the "every 33 years" possible meteor storm opportunities for the Leonid shower, and thus extra special. 

  The 2001 shower was magnificent for me only because I used the satellite animated views and drove four hours south and east of Chicago to get out from under a state-wide fog and cloud barrier. I stopped at a tractor access to a farm field and was treated to the best meteor shower I am likely to see in my lifetime. Forty to Sixty meteors every four minutes!! Often five or six in the sky at the same moment. Bright, long trails. Many lit up the ground and a few made popping sounds.  The moon was not an issue.
 
 In 2002, the moon didn't set until well after midnight, but I had driven to a State Forest north of White Oaks, NM to reach really dark 7.5 skies. Because of the moon, and the year, the 2002 forcast was for much less activity than in 2001. I saw only 20-40 per hour from 2AM to 6AM. It was still worth it to me and I got one very nice picture showing all of Leo, and a meteor streaking down and looking as though it was going into a very photographic near-by pine tree.

  This year, the moon is setting earlier than midnight during the shower. That is very good. Sites like this one...

http://www.imcce.fr/page.php?nav=en/ephemerides/phenomenes/meteor/DATABASE/Leonids/2007/index.php

  ( cut and paste both lines one after the other or make a tiny url )

suggest  to me, that, this year - click on the 2009 choice at the bottom of the page -  there will be possible encounters with three or four dust clouds from previous passings of the comet. The bad part is that the peak activities are only in the 40 to 100/hour range and will those peaks will only be seen from the area around India. This will correspond with our afternoon...oops, Sun's still up. My reading would suggest that our east coast nights will be three hours closer to any peak activity periods than our west coast nights. There is one possible dust trail peak encounter that favors the USA viewing times.

  Because of our nights occuring during only the off-peak times of earth's encounters with the various dust trails, I would guess that we will be lucky to see better than 10-15 extra meteors during any one hour/night on any of the above dates here in the USA even though our moon will be out of the way for most of the night. And that will be only in an area with moderately dark, say 5.5 or better, clear skies. I believe the forcasts for the various showers tend to be optimistic. However, the forcast folks are generally very good at getting close to the actual, observed peaks. They are getting better every year. Hoorah, guys !!

  I have found that, when possible, it never hurts to stay up all night. You can always use a thermos or two of coffee, a lawn chair, and a sleeping bag with mattress pad. Two people per bag is warmer, but distracting. :) No binoculars or telescopes are necessary. If you can block near-by city light domes out with hills or quarry walls, you will do better. Look for photogenic sunrises and do some bird-watching on your way home.

Do a YouTube search for my 7 minute video...2009 Pileated Woodpecker Nest...

Good Hunting,

Orin Keplinger
near Chicago
______________________________________________________________________
----- Original Message -----
From: mark777ebay at aol.com
To: meteorobs at meteorobs.org
Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 11:18:23 PM GMT -06:00 US/Canada Central
Subject: (meteorobs) when to look for the Leonids?




hi- I was wondering for those of us that are amateurs>>>snip