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What's up? The sky. You better
look out for the starry night sky for the infamous Leonid Shower because
you won't get to see the show of this magnitude in this life time!
Comet Tempel–Tuttle enters solar system and come in close proximity of
the earth once every 33 years, but you will have interference of the moon
light. So basically, to see the shower with this condition, you will have
to wait for a century or more. NASA meteor scientist and forecaster Bill
Cooke thinks the 2001 version of the Leonid Meteor shower will put on
its best show -- a full-fledged storm of shooting stars. Check out the
source
article.
The Leonid
meteor shower occurs every year between November 14 and the 21st as
the earth encounters particles left behind from comet Temple-Tuttle.
This comet orbits the sun every 33.25 years and leaves debris in a slightly
different path with every return. The debris the earth encounters is
normally sparse creating no more than 10-15 meteors per hour at best.
What makes this
year exceptional is that the debris fields or paths orbiting near the
comet, which last passed the sun in 1998, has a much higher concentration
of material than in normal years when the comet is far from the inner
solar system. In 2001 the earth will pass close to three separate paths
of the comet. These paths were created by the comet in 1699, 1767 and
1866. When the earth passes close to each one of these paths there is
the chance of increased meteor activity.
The outburst
can be seen by observers in Thailand is at 17:30 Universal
Time or 12:30am
Thailand local time. Rates as high as 30 per minute have also been predicted
at this time. source: The American
Meteor Society
 The
Leonids gets its name from the constellation Leo, which seemed like where
it started from. The Leonids come once a year, but put on storms every
33 years or so. Recent computer models indicate that the Far East (Western
Australia; East, Southeast, and Central Asia) could see rates up to 15,000
per hour, or about 4 per second this year! This would happen toward dawn
on November 19, shortly after 18 hours Universal Time. source : Astronomy.com
CNN
Coverage -- One of the best meteor showers in decades could barrage
planet Earth this weekend, raining down perhaps thousands of streaking
points of light each hour during its peak. Observers in North America,
Hawaii, Australia and Asian nations on the Pacific Rim should have the
best views of the 2001 Leonids, which will take place overnight November
17 and 18 Astronomers predict meteor rates could peak as high as 8,000
an hour in some places, but caution that such forecasts are sketchy at
best. "The Leonids might surprise us," NASA astronomer Bill
Cooke said. Predicted outbursts could fail to materialize and the showers
could become intense when scientists least expect.
In Thailand, Sunday night
(November 18), you can start looking up at the sky, facing east. For
best results, look 45 degree from the radiant (the point from which
all of a shower’s meteors appear to originate) and about 45degree above
the horizon. The radiant will be in the sickle of the constellation
Leo, near the bright star Regulus. Leo will rise in the east around midnight
local time.
The meteor show in Thailand will
start at 12:30am
(November 19). The weather should be nice and cool. The sky is predicted
to be clear for the north, north east and central Thailand. If you are
in the south, you'll probably have cloudy sky. You can never be sure about
Thai weather prediction. We just hope it wasn't like last year. We went
to a nice beach front condominium looking and a perfectly cloudy sky!!
:( We managed to see a few light show but it wasn't anything as impressive
as it was hyped up to be. This year, they say it would be different, and
more exiting.. So lets hope we don't miss it. For those who wants to photograph
this event, here are some
advice
Tell us where you plan to be or if
it had already happened, your experience, on this article, where were
you and post some picture in your member's picture gallery!
By: Putt
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