(meteorobs) meteorobs (meteor) For "New World" Observers 1799

[drobnock]

Hi,
The report is suggesting the first recorded meteor shower observed and
recorded in the North America is credited to Andrew Ellicott Douglass,
an early American astronomer born in Vermont.


Nov 12, 1799:
First meteor shower on record

Andrew Ellicott Douglass, an early American astronomer born in Vermont,
witnesses the Leonids meteor shower from a ship off the Florida Keys.
Douglass, who later became an assistant to the famous astronomer
Percival Lowell, wrote in his journal that the "whole heaven appeared as
if illuminated with sky rockets, flying in an infinity of directions,
and I was in constant expectation of some of them falling on the vessel.
They continued until put out by the light of the sun after day break."
Douglass' journal entry is the first known record of a meteor shower in
North America.
(http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-meteor-shower-on-record)

George John Drobnock

The Leonids meteor shower is an annual event that is greatly enhanced
every 33 years or so by the appearance of the comet Tempel-Tuttle. When
the comet returns, the Leonids can produce rates of up to several
thousand meteors per hour that can light up the sky on a clear night.
Douglass witnessed one such manifestation of the Leonids shower, and the
subsequent return of the comet Tempel-Tuttle in 1833 is credited as
inspiring the first organized study of meteor astronomy.