Most meteor showers vary from year to year, but the Leonids are particularly capricious. Many years they chug along producing just 5 or 10 meteors visible per hour. But at the Leonids' historical greatest, in 1833, meteors were seen to fall "like snowflakes in a blizzard," with estimated rates of several dozen per second!
This year is expected to be better than average. The "traditional," most reliable part of the shower should peak around 4 a.m. EST (1 a.m. PST) on the morning of Tuesday, November 17th. You might see 20 or 30 meteors per hour under ideal dark-sky conditions. (Remember, if you want to stay up late instead of getting up early, you'll be staying up Monday night. It's easy to get the date wrong for events that happen after midnight!)
A second, briefer, but very intense outburst is expected about 12 hours later — during the early-morning hours of November 18th in Asia. (See "Will the Leonids Roar Again?".) There's only an off-chance that some activity from that burst will still be going on by the time the Earth turns halfway around and the Leonids become visible in the Americas on the morning of the 18th.
But if the sky is clear, why not go out again that morning — and also before the predicted peak, on the morning of the 16th? The Leonids have surprised the theorists before, and they surely will again.
Wherever you are, no Leonids will be visible before the shower's radiant point (in Leo) rises around local midnight. And peaks and bursts aside, the number of visible meteors increases steadily from radiant-rise until Leo is highest, just as the sky is starting to get light.
Be sure to bundle up warmly; meteor-watching is always colder than you expect. Ideal meteor-watching equipment is a comfortable lounge chair, a warm sleeping bag, and a pillow. If you live in a city or suburb, consider traveling to a dark location far from city skyglow. In any case, find a spot where no lights glare directly into your eyes.
The direction to watch is wherever your sky is darkest. Notice the meteors' flight paths; only those streaking away from the direction to the constellation Leo are Leonids.
Another, less-known meteor shower is going on simultaneously — the Taurids. They're sparse but tend to be very bright. If you see a slow, bright meteor heading away from the direction to Taurus, that's a Taurid.
And you're bound to see a few sporadics that aren't associated with any major shower.
The longest solar eclipse was watched by hundreds of people including school students at ASTRO observatory Payyanur. Even though clouds cast shadows over crowd gathered here till 6.45 am. Then the sun came out of clouds to show the cosmic drama of eclipse. ASTRO coordinator K Gangadharan Master gave class and instructions for the people gathered
If you have a telescope, mark April 2–5, 2009, on your calendar. The world is coming your way.
An unprecedented string of public skywatching events will be packed into this brief period, all designed to engage people and bring them out for a worldwide star party that will cap the program on Saturday evening, April 4th.
Collectively, the period is called “100 Hours of Astronomy.” It’s a Cornerstone Project of the International Year of Astronomy 2009, tailor-made for amateurs who’d like to try some outreach. During the final 24 hours a global star party will sweep around the world, with local gatherings beginning as darkness descends. Even city street corners will come alive, with the third annual International Sidewalk Astronomy Night happening the first weekend in April. Thus many sidewalk astronomy regulars will already be at their stations.
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Saturn lies opposite the Sun in our sky March 8, which keeps it visible all night. Opposition also brings Saturn closest to Earth, so it shines brightest and appears biggest through a telescope. Saturn peaks at magnitude 0.5, making it the brightest object in its host constellation, Leo the Lion. The planet lies in southern Leo, beneath the Lion's hindquarters.
TAKE BACK THE NIGHT!
JOIN THE GLOBE AT NIGHT CAMPAIGN, 16-28 MARCH!
At least 2 out of 5 Americans, 1 out of 6 Europeans and 1 out of 10
people worldwide have never seen 90% of the stars in our night sky.
With half the world's population now living in cities, this problem is
only getting worse. Yet you can easily be part of a local solution to
a global problem.
Take back the night! Take a few minutes to monitor your local night
sky brightness, place your measurement on-line noting your location,
date and time and within a few weeks see a map of light pollution
levels worldwide.
Be part of the "GLOBE at Night" citizen-science campaign and make a
world of difference! The GLOBE at Night campaign runs March 16-28,
2009. Help preserve our natural heritage for generations to come. Find
out more information at www.globe.gov/globeatnight . GLOBE at Night is
an official International Year of Astronomy Dark Skies Awareness
cornerstone project.
Asteroid Ceres approaches Earth
February is a special occasion for the solar system's biggest asteroid. Not only is 1 Ceres making its closest approach to Earth since 1857, but it also will not get this close again for at least another millennium.
The long-term gravitational tugs of the planets conspire to modify Ceres' orbit just enough for this month's record-breaking event. Still, the difference between the asteroid's appearance now and at other favorable oppositions isn't huge. In 9 years, Ceres will be only 1.2 percent farther away.
You can follow Ceres through binoculars from your backyard. It sails through northern Leo during February, in a region without a lot of bright stars. Simply use the finder chart to pick out the pattern of nearby stars, then look for the interloper.
You may think this close approach will give you a chance to see Ceres without optical aid. You'd be right -- although not by much. At opposition, Ceres glows at magnitude 6.9 in a sparse starfield. Sharp-eyed observers under the darkest skies have seen objects this faint before. However, you'll have a better chance just 3 years from now. Ceres will then brighten to magnitude 6.7 thanks to the "opposition effect." The Sun-Earth-asteroid angle then will be closer to a straight line than during this month's slightly crooked arrangement. The better alignment in 2012 will increase Ceres' brightness more than the greater distance will decrease it.
