Radiant point for Leonid meteor shower
17 comments Print Me Email to FriendTonight's Sky for Friday, Nov 16 2007
The Leonid meteor shower will reach its peak on Saturday evening, November 17, 2007, according to U.S. clocks. The best time to watch this shower will be from Saturday evening until dawn Sunday morning. As is true of most meteor showers, the Leonids are typically best between the hours of midnight and dawn.
Our chart at left shows the radiant point in this annual shower – in the head of the constellation Leo, near the star Algieba. This is not Leo’s brightest star – that distinction goes to the star Regulus. Both Algieba and Regulus belong to a noticeable pattern on the sky’s dome, in the shape of a backwards question mark. This pattern is called “the Sickle.”
Leo rises in the wee hours after midnight in November, which explains why the meteor shower is typically best after midnight, despite the predicted evening peak. You’ll usually see more meteors when the radiant point is well above the horizon.
The meteors will appear throughout a large area of sky. You don’t need to know how to recognize Leo to see them. But if you trace the paths of the meteors backwards, you’ll see they all seem to come from single point, called the radiant point. This is the point in the sky where we cross the comet’s orbit. It’s kind of like the point in the distance where train tracks converge.
The radiant is in the head of Leo the Lion, but – again – you do not need to identify exactly where the radiant is to enjoy the meteors. Just find a dark place to observe in the country – preferably between midnight and dawn on Saturday night – lie back, and enjoy.
Is this high up in the sky or near the horizon. I have huge trees to the East of my house so I wont be able to see it if it is near the horizon.
Hi Bob.
The radiant of the Leonid meteor shower is in the constellation Leo the Lion. Like the sun, Leo’s stars rise in the east and set in the west. Presuming you live at a middle northern latitude, Leo won’t rise over your eastern horizon till around midnight. Although you won’t see Leo at this time if your eastern horizon is obstructed, you still might see some meteors streaking across the sky. Leo (and the radiant point for the meteor shower) will climb to its highest point in the sky, almost overhead, around 6 o’clock in the morning.
Good luck!
Bruce
Well that kinda stinks but o well. I hope I get better luck the nex meteor shower.
Bob, you might have better luck with the Geminids in December — keep watching this space!
LS
Denver
Gee, Bob, like perhaps you could ya’know, like get in a car (likely you have, or know someone, with such a machine) and drive to where you can see?
I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!
Hi,
I live in Panama City Florida. When and where do I look for the show tonight.
would i need a telescope to see this meteor shower?
QA, no, do not use a telescope or binoculars. These show small areas of the sky, but when viewing a meteor shower, you want to see as large an area of sky as possible, so telescopes and binoculars are definitely not the way to go.
Larry S.
Denver
Darn.
Up at the right time od night, middle of Nowheresville, TN; no clouds, no humidity …. Clear view to the horizon in all directions.
And ten billion lights around the power plant for security and safety access points on the ladders and towers and wires.
Can’t see a blasted thing!
Is it worth it watch the day after the peak?
Debbie,
To be brutally honest, in my book, no. However, meteor showers are hard to predict and there always could be an unexpected outburst or continuation. But typically the Leonids are a fairly brief shower. On average, the shower falls off to approximately half its maximum rate in something like 12 hours. So by tonight at best it likely would be less than one half what it was last night. In fact it would be hard to distinguish that rate from the normal background, which is 5-6 meteors per hour after midnight — any night.
But that’s just my opinion.
Larry S.
Denver
I go running from 4:30am to 6:30am CST NW on dark country roads approximately 16 miles S/SE of Amarillo, Texas. I have been watching the meteors in the SE sky for a couple of weeks and have seen some very interesting things, but today (Nov. 19) I saw something that will never be rivaled in my opinion.
At 5:22am, a very bright meteor (or satellite burning up) passed overhead on a NNW course for approximately 5 seconds. With an extended arm, it was approximately two hand-widths west of the Big Dipper. What made this spectacular, was that I counted to 40 before I could not longer see the contrail. At beast 3-5 seconds is the longest I ever am priveleged to see a meteor’s tail. This was incredilbel and I am wondering if there are any reports of satellites coming out of orbit or anything in the news that would suggest what this was. Surely other people must have seen this as it was very bright and lasted a very long time. If you know of anything, can you let me know. My description will never do any justice to the experience and I feel truly blessed to have seen something so incredible. Thank you.
J Rogers,
The Leonids can produce fireballs, but the one you describe definitely seems exceptional. By the track you indicate, it certainly could have been a Leonid, or it could have been a sporadic (non-shower) meteor. As you suggest, it could even have been space debris. However, I am not aware of any predictions of returning space junk, but you can’t rule that out. I have heard of tracks lasting as long as a couple of minutes, but I have never seen one anywhere near that long. Maybe we will get lucky and someone else who saw it will comment. I suggest that you contact the Don Harrington Discovery Center (806-355-9547) to see if anyone else reported anything in the Amarillo area. Ask for Chip Lindsey and tell him I sent you!
Larry Sessions
Denver
Thanks, Larry. Chip is a business contact of mine. I will tell him you sent me.
Jeff Rogers
Videoconference Network Administrator
Region 16 Education Service Center
Amarillo, Texas
teachers rule! GO TEACH! and for other news, mackeroney is doing the mockeranea!
Jeff,
Chip was a volunteer at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History when I was there roughly 30 years ago, and sometimes gave shows in the planetarium. He’s a good guy.
Larry S.