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Meteorite sets Fires in Guilford |
Look to the Stars on Nov 18th, 2001
The famous Leonid Meteor Showers will arrive soon. Some meteors will be visible anytime during the nights of Nov. 17th/18th but the best time to begin to look will be after the moon sets around 12:30 a.m. Look for a dark place away from any lights, dress warm, and keep your fingers crossed that it is a clear night. Observing time at our longitude will be between 1:00 and 5:00 a.m. Look toward the constellation Leo. Last year's show even had the world watching with live video cams connected to the internet. Our website had links to this.
This Nov. 17th/18th, the Leonid Meteor Showers will produce good displays . Stronger storms are predicted for 2002 according to new research published in the Royal Astronomical Society Journal. Dr. Asher and Dr. McNaught show how the times when the earth passes through the dense streams of showers can now be predicted with remarkable accuracy.
In the early hours of Nov. 17th last year, meteor watchers awaiting the Leonid shower were taken by surprise. A spectacular display of bright meteors occurred 16 hours before the predicted time for the maximum shower. The researchers showed for the first time that meteoroid streams can have complex braid-like structures within them. This latest analysis, covering Leonid meteor showers over the past 200 years, shows that the peak times of the strongest storms and sharpest outbursts are predictable within five minutes! The technique involves mapping the braided structures of the comet Temple Tuttle's tail.
Although observers at European longitudes this year are favored, as the earth hits head on with the tail, we here in Chenango County will still see up to 30 meteors per hour. Maximum impact is predicted for 2:00 a.m. on Nov. 18th with 1000 to 4000 meteors per hour. During a meteor storm, meteors appear at astonishing rates, sometimes several meteors per second. Historically, the Leonids have been known as far back as 1366. In 1799 a large display of thousands of meteorites was reported by a Portuguese navigator. The most famous example recorded in the archives in Guilford was the incredible Leonid display of 1833. This display seen around the world is credited with starting the serious scientific study of meteor storms.
There is no doubt that 2002 will provide opportunities to witness exceptional Leonid meteor storms. However, this Nov. and the following year are also favored as we pass into the comet's tail. For further information on the meteor storm, please see the other articles and links on this webpage.
And, do look to the skies for its wonders.
Tom Gray, Guilford Town Historian
All information on this site are excerpts from Unadilla Valley:
Pictorial Glimpses of the Past, 1976, Unadilla Valley Historical Society; Mert
Brownell: Unadilla Valley: 1788-1976, 1976, Unadilla Valley Historical Society
and partially reprinted with permission by Thomas Gray, Guilford Town Historian.
All pictures and photographs on this site courtesy of the Guilford Historical Society;
underwater photographs by Robert M. Small, Professional Diving Services, Norwich, New
York.
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Last modified
September 08, 2007
