From: Eric Plett (EPlett@serrahs.com)
Date: Mon Nov 19 2001 - 00:35:37 PST
Message-ID: <41EECCC50C65D111B47300A0C977BA9330094E@SERRA-EXCHANGE> From: Eric Plett <EPlett@serrahs.com> Subject: RE: Pinhole Digest #775 - 11/19/01 Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2001 00:35:37 -0800
I was able to awake at 2 am and peak at the show off my porch in the hills
of San Mateo. Unfortunately, the was a bit of a lighted haze toward the
north, which obscured part of the show but otherwise it was quite good. I
must have only seen the bright ones because I had to wait several minutes
sometimes for the next one.
I also observed the distinct trail which I had never observed before with
other "shooting stars". My guess is that it was steam vapor condensing
since comets are dirty ice.
Eric Plett
-----Original Message-----
From: Pinhole Listserv [mailto:pinhole@exploratorium.edu]
Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2001 11:20 PM
To: Pinhole Listserv
Subject: Pinhole Digest #775 - 11/19/01
Pinhole Digest #775 - Monday, November 19, 2001
Meteor trails
by "Ian Bleakney" <bleekers@ousd.k12.ca.us>
Leonid Meteor Storm!
by <pauld@exploratorium.edu>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Meteor trails
From: "Ian Bleakney" <bleekers@ousd.k12.ca.us>
Date: Sun, 18 Nov 2001 12:55:15 -0800
Hello Pinholers!
As I was watching the meteor shower last night from a dark spot out near
Livermore (Wow!) I noticed an interesting phenomena. Some meteors left
very dramatic trails that hung around for a second or more. Each meteor
left a trail that appeared to fade from the ends first. The very last
part of the trail to fade away to darkness was the middle. Is there an
established reason for this or was I just seeing things?
Ian
-- "There are causes worth dying for, but none worth killing for. " (Albert Camus)"In the struggle of Good against Evil, it's always the people who get killed. " (Eduardo Galeano)
Ian Bleakney Science Instructor Merritt Middle College High School Oakland, CA
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Leonid Meteor Storm! From: <pauld@exploratorium.edu> Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2001 01:23:23 GMT
Pinhole report on the Leonid meteor storm from Paul Doherty. I was viewing it from 20 miles east of Hollister at an elevation 2000 feet in the middle of nowhere. I had a dark sky.
The Leonid meteor storm last night was awesome. One of the finest spectacles I have ever seen in the sky, (just short of a total solar eclipse!)
Meteors streaked across the sky at rates of over one a second, they were bright and they left trails behind them. Many times there would be two or three in the sky at the same time, in one two second interval there were 8! There were three "flashbulbs," A.K.A. bolides, that exploded in a bright flash at the end of their track. I could see my shadow on the ground by bolide flash. Three left trails behind that lasted for over a minute, the trails were twisted into comma shapes by high altitude winds.
They radiated out from Leo. It was like driving through the central valley on a spring night when large bugs streak past illuminated by your headlights. I finally got the sense of the earth racing through space.
The storm lasted from 1 AM with high rates between 2 and 3 AM and ended at 3:30 AM.
I am short on sleep but really jazzed by finally seeing a meteor storm.
Paul Doherty
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