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Re: (meteorobs) Leonids 2002: West coast or east coast?



In a message dated 7/12/02 12:29:57 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
Mark777ebay@aol.com writes:

<< east coast:  get to see both peaks while moon is low  (earthgrazers during 
first peak?)

    The first peak will likely come at around 11 p.m. EST on the evening of 
November 18. The only locations that have a chance at seeing any 
Earth-skimmers from this first outburst (the 7-revolution trail from 1767) 
will be in New England and the Maritime Provinces of eastern Canada.  Places 
farther to the south and west will have the Leonid radiant too far below the 
east-northeast horizon to see much of anything.  Also, take note of the fact 
that while the Leonid radiant is rising, the Moon will be nearing its highest 
point in the southern sky.

    The second peak (the 4-revolution trail from 1866) is due at around 5:40 
a.m. EST on November 19.  Astronomical Twilight will begin near and along the 
longitude 81-degree west line; places to the east of this line will have to 
deal with increasing twilight, while to the west of this line the sky will 
still be dark.  The Moon will have lowered to about 10-degrees of altitude 
above the west-northwest horizon near/along longitude 81 W.  If you go to the 
east, the Moon gets lower, but twilight gets brighter; if you go to the west, 
there is no twilight, but the Moon will be higher.  In the Florida Panhandle, 
the start of twilight will coincide with the predicted peak time; the radiant 
is about 70 degrees high, with the Moon only about 10 degrees up.

  west coast:  dry air;  only the bigger peak in the middle of the night >>

    If you head to the Desert Southwest, you'll have about 70 to 80% chance 
of a clear-to-partly cloudy sky.  However, the Moon will be quite high up in 
the west and will probably be of a much greater hindrance as opposed to 
places that are farther east.

-- joe rao
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