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(meteorobs) Leonids 2001 NE USA western NJ
I just woke up, it's 3:00pm ET. Not so many hours ago I grabbed my
blankets and pillows, put on my thick winter jacket, pulled my warm
winter hat down over my ears and went outside to lie on the frozen ground
under a crystal clear November sky. Never in a million years would I have
imagined what I was about to see. This all would be completely
meaningless if I didn't share such a wondrous spectacle.
At 4:15am on the morning of Sunday November 18th, 2001 I was witness to a
light show that even the likes of G** has never seen. It was the event
the some know as the Leonid meteor showers. I would beg to differ, in
that this was no shower at all. This was a storm. I've seen showers
before and they were quite dazzling. Although I sat out there some nights
for 6 hours I would only see about 30 to 40 meteors streak across the
sky. This morning was quite different.
For those of you that never seen a meteoroid enter the Earth's atmosphere
allow my to begin by saying there are many different consequences during
the transformation of a meteoroid into a meteor. Some enter at a shallow
angle, that is to say they contact the surface of the atmosphere almost
parallel to it. In effect they skip across thin high altitude gases not
unlike a flat stone on the surface of a pond. These tend not to be
brilliant. They appear as thin white lines about the brightness of a
minor star. They are short lived and gone in an instant. Some meteoroids
come in at a slightly steeper angle. These penetrate deeper into the
atmosphere but bounce back into space before they really have a chance to
damage them selves. These also tend not to be so spectacular. They do how
ever heat the gases that they rub against leaving a short-lived glowing
trail. I couldn't say what color but to me it looks green. The friction
causes the meteor to radiate a bright white-hot light. But, these to are
gone in an instant and tend to be short streaks appearing about three
times as long as the diameter of a full moon. That is to say about 15
degrees of sky. Now, here is where we get into the fancy and wondrous
meteors. As the angle of penetration increases the brilliance of the
meteor increases. First encountered are small particles of space debris
that enter, heat up to white-hot temperatures and dissipate into a gas.
These appear to me, as instant streaks of white, fringed in blues and
greens. These also heat the gases of the atmosphere to a greenish color.
They last for about .5 seconds and the after glow will last another 2
seconds. They appear brighter than any star or planet in the night time
sky. Next are slightly bigger particles. At steep angles, they burn
bright. They travel about 45-50 degrees across the sky. They are
identical to the last mentioned except that the initial streak lasts for
about 2 seconds and the after glow will last another 3 seconds. The last
I will mention is second to the most brilliant. They are known as
"Fireballs". When the angle of penetration is perfect and the size is
perfect the show will last up to 15 seconds some times longer, as a
bright ball of fire (hence the name) rushing across the sky. Way faster
than any jet you will see. They glow brighter and brighter, sometimes
going ballistic. They end the show with a subtle dimming and are gone.
I was fortunate to see all of these above-mentioned transformations. The
thing that really caught my attention was that I was seeing them every 10
seconds. Usually I would see one or two and have to wait for what seemed
like forever to see the next. Usually I would count how many I have seen
during the span of the night. Not this time. There were too many, to
fast, I lost count at about two hundred and fifty. After I lost count
they continued to rain down above me, every 10 seconds, sometimes 5
meteors with in 3 seconds. They were in all parts of the skies. All
around they dazzled, ooed and ahhed. On a few occasions the ripped a
"words that would not be approriate" from my otherwise speechless mouth.
The gift that I received that was most stunning was that I was graced
with not one, but two! Yes, two detonations! A detonation is similar to a
firework shell. As it comes down, it glows brighter and brighter. About 5
seconds into it's decent it explodes into a brilliant flash of light.
Exactly like a flash bulb popping off. In its place the atmosphere is
left glowing for nearly 2 minutes. Glowing green. After the first I saw I
ran for my binoculars. A short while later, wouldn't ya know it, POP!
Another one! Quickly I pointed my binocs in the direction of the glowing
gasses. To my stunned and bewildered eyes I witnesses the typical, so
often talked about Tungunska Butterfly, with a glowing green body and
glowing green wings. It was the shock wave of the blast extending out
from its epicenter of detonation. It lasted for a good 5 minutes of which
my jaw was on the ground.
My feet were frozen my fingers were numb, so I collected my stuff off the
ground. I didn't want to leave the show, but I was falling asleep. I
walked into the house and glanced at the clock. ! All that I saw and only
an hour had pasted. OMG! ! ! !
Well, any way, I encourage you all to do what you can in order to not
miss the next meteor "storm". You will never forget what you see. You
will be extremely happy that you endured freezing temperatures and late
extended hours in the early frozen morning.
Eyes wide, jaw dropped, and touched for life,
~spiderowl
http://www.spiderowl.com
for unedited story:
http://www.spiderowl.com/IKTOMIHOKA/DOCUMENTS/LEONIDS2001.htm
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