(SNES) Leonid meteors on 18/19 Nov (Mon night/Tue morning)

["Lew Gramer \(E-mail 3\)" <dedalus@alum.mit.edu>]

Larry Lopez of NHAS sagely asks:
>Well the worst part is that the moon is going to be out for most
>of the night Monday night, and that it is a weekday. Last time I
>showed up at 1 am and stayed till dawn to be at the "best" time.
>I was wondering if you'd comment on the "best" time to be there?

Well, Larry, that's a good question... Barbara asked me to
do a talk for the club at the next NHAS General Meeting, on
"The Lion's Last Roar: Seeing the Leonid Meteor Storm from
New England" (Plus I have a talk at the CMP on 01 November,
and another talk at the ATMoB meeting on 14 Nov also, AND
one for South Shore Astronomical Society on 06 Nov. Yikes!)


But if you can't come, or you just want "the short answer":

First, my disclaimer: this is based on a consensus of cur-
rent predictions "from the pros". So Your Mileage May Vary.


1) If you are up for it, watch from around 10pm Monday night,
AAAAAAALL the way through bright dawn Tuesday morning... Last
year I did this in China, and the fun lasted from ~45 minutes
BEFORE the radiant rose, all the way until sunrise - really! :)


2) If you're not up for an all-nighter, then watch between 10
and midnight Monday night (you stand a good chance to catch the
tail end of the "European" storm which is predicted that night),
and then watch AGAIN from about 3:30am through bright twilight,
on Tuesday morning... So you can nap for a few hours in between!

3) If you're a real sleepy head, or have a head cold and can't
stand lying out in your PolarTec sleeping bag, then just make
SURE you go out on the morning of Tuesday, November 19. Lie out
or sit comfortably (don't stand) with your eyes on the sky from
about 4am until the sun threatens to rise!

4) Last but not least, if waking up at 4am is about as likely
for you as flying in the Space Shuttle, then just keep your eye
on the sky Monday evening, from 10pm to midnight: you could MISS
the most incredible show of the year - or your life - but you'll
at least have a chance to see a few nice, looooong, "slooooow"
Earth grazer meteors, as the Leonid radiant rises that night...


As for the moonlight - if our "storms" materialize, they may
also bless us with many BRIGHT meteors again this time... So
the moon may cause you to end up "only" seeing a meteor every
THREE seconds, instead of a meteor every 1 sec... Oh, well! :)

And don't forget, if you feel like recording what you see for
posterity - and maybe getting your name mentioned in lots of
scientific publications if you do - please let me know...

Clear skies all,
Lew


Lew Gramer, North American Meteor Network
http://www.meteorobs.org
http://www.namnmeteors.org
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