Are the Leonids putting on a show in 2009?

[chroot]

Does anyone know the scoop on the supposed Leonid meteor storm this year? Is anyone planning on watching it? What I've read is that it will peak on November 17, but I've heard of very few star parties and such in my local area, which surprises me.

- Warren

 

[anvesh111]

in which area does this leonids takes place and why they take place in the month of november everyyear

 

[russ_watters]

in which area does this leonids takes place...

Meteor showers are named for the constellation they appear to emanate from - in this case, the constellation Leo.

...and why they take place in the month of november everyyear

Meteor showers come from the debris comets left when they crossed Earth's orbit and the debris field stays in roughly the same place in the Earth's orbit.

 

[ideasrule]

I watched the sky on November 18, 2am Eastern under less-than-ideal conditions for 30 minutes. Didn't see any meteors. Did anybody see unusual activity?

 

[alseth]

I watched the sky on November 18, 2am Eastern under less-than-ideal conditions for 30 minutes. Didn't see any meteors. Did anybody see unusual activity?

Well, you watched it about 9 hours after the peak (which was not as spectacular as expected anyway). The ZHR at that time could be well bellow 40 so it is not that strange. I didn't see anything either (observed at 22 UT - about peak-time but the radiant was quite low and the weather was crappy with occasional hydrometeorites).

http://www.arm.ac.uk/~gba/imo/leonids2009/

 

[chroot]

My girl and I spent about an hour watching, and we each saw a handful of very bright meteors -- two that stretched across most of the sky. We weren't disappointed!

- Warren

 

[turbo]

When walking my dog, I saw a very bright meteor traveling N-S two nights before peak, and last night around 8pm or so I saw another following the same general track. It seems that the debris-field has gotten stretched a bit so there are fore-runners and stragglers days before and after the projected peak.