Leonid Meteor Storm

[SVXphile]

Enough staring at the Pleiades....lets see some REAL action! For those who have been preoccupied with the roar of the crowd and the smell of the greasepaint, the Leonid meteor shower is scheduled to be a WHOPPER late tonight and mostly in the early hours of Sunday morning. So wind up the old rooster for an early wakeup call, 'cause the best seeing is supposed to be from 2 to 5AM! Not that you can't see something near midnight, but the Earth turns into the oncoming debris AFTER midnight. Put on your long johns, get thee to a dark area away from bright lights, give your eyes about a half-hour to fully adjust, get that lawn chair back out of storage, get a Thermos of your favorite beverage ( no wine for you Ron....you'll be seeing things, but they won't be meteors!) and set back and enjoy the show. Those in the know say tonights fireworks will be the best in decades and maybe decades to come. The Earth will pass through several old comet debris trails tonight, so some periods during the night will be more spectacular than others, but many fireballs are expected along with hundreds....perhaps THOUSANDS of meteors per hour. For an update on when the peaks will appear, check out this website:

www.spaceweather.com

...also, for general info:

http://www.msnbc.com/news/653572.asp?pne=msn

The Leonids will seem to be radiating from the constellation Leo in the south-southeast. The website has a map. Lets hope for a great show! Don