More Stargazing

[Leslie]

ooooooooh, aaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Save up your wishes because there will soon be more than enough visible stars to pin your hopes and dreams on.

Early next week, people in Europe, Britain and North America will have the best seats in the world from which to view a spectacular sky show. Thousands of shooting stars or meteors will blast through the atmosphere at about 160,000 miles per hour. “It is a natural fireworks display, a celestial spectacle,” Professor Mark Bailey from the Armagh Observatory in Northern Ireland said.

The meteor storm will take to the air in two gusts during the dark hours between Monday night and Tuesday morning (Nov. 18 & 19). The best times to watch the show in Britain and Europe will be during the first burst around 10:50pm EDT. In North America, we’ll see the second surge at about 5:30am EDT.

The full moon might take a little away from the performance, but all the same, the sky storm might be the biggest for the next 100 years. About 1,000 meteors each hour will take to the air during the first burst and about 6,000 per hour in the second.

The best part? The awe-inspiring spectacle is absolutely free of charge.

Source

 

[unclehobart]

Its the Leonid meteor shower. This is going to be the best one for the next 30 years. Peak time for us in EST will be 530 am.. yuck. I wonder why the article refused to use its proper name.

 

[Bubba]

On tv they said it was going to begin at 11 PM Eastern on Monday. I was counting on checking that out. Sounds pretty cool.

 

[unclehobart]

600-2000 meteors an hour. I saw the last major shower on a new moon night walking on a beach on the GA coast about 7-8 years ago. I stopped counting after I hit 4000. I had a sore neck and was chilled to the bone.. but it was worth it.

 

[Bubba]

I've been noticing last week that the stars were extremely visible. I love gawking at the night sky.