When is the next meteor shower for South Central US?

[3Sassy]

When is the next meteor shower that will be viewable from North Louisiana? I would love to show my kids a really good meteor shower. Thanks for the info.

 

[newtonian]

3Sassy - I don't know - but note Mars is still unusually bright right now.<br /><br />This page will announce meteor showers:<br /><br />http://www.space.com/spacewatch/sky_calendar.html<br /><br />Hopefully another poster will answer better.

 

[formulaterp]

The Leonids, probably the best known of the periodic meteor showers, are coming up this month. You should see increased activity between Nov. 13-20 with the peak around the 17th.

 

[harmonicaman]

ANNUAL METEOR SHOWERS:<br /><br /><br />Jan. 4 Quadrantids: Radiant--Bootes. Very short lived shower, less that one day. Variable rate, but generally around 60 per hour. Speed 41 kps and bluish color. <br /><br />Jan. 16 Delta Cancrids: Radiant--just west of Beehive. Minor shower, rate about 4 per hour. Very swift. <br /><br />Jan. 18 Coma Berenicids: Radiant--near Coma star cluster. Only one or two per hour, but among fastest meteors known--65 kps. <br /><br />Feb. 26 Delta Leonids: Radiant--midway in Leo's back. Feb. 5 to Mar. 19 with peak in late Feb. 5 per hour at 24 kps. <br /><br />Mar. 16 Corona-Australids: Radiant--16 hr 20 min, -48 deg. 5 to 7 per hour from Mar. 14 to Mar. 18. <br /><br />Mar. 22 Camelopardalids: No definite peak, with only one per hour. Slowest meteors at 7 kps. <br /><br />Mar. 22 March Geminids: Discovered in 1973 and confirmed in 1975. Rate generally about 40 per hour. Seem to be very slow meteors. <br /><br />Apr. 4 Kappa Serpentids: Radiant--near Corona Borealis . 4 or 5 per hour from Apr. 1 to 7. <br /><br />Apr. 7 Delta Draconids: Radiant--near Cepheus border. From Mar. 28 to Apr. 7. Slow meteors at about 5 per hour. <br /><br />Apr. 10 Virginids: Radiant-- near Gamma in bowl of Virgo. 20 per hour. <br /><br />Apr. 15 April Fireballs: Radiant-- between The Water Jar and Scutum, very erratic. From April 15 to 30 many bright bolides from Southeastern sky. <br /><br />Apr. 17 Sigma Leonids: Radiant-- at Leo Virgo border, actually has moved into Virgo in recent years. Weak shower of 1 to 2 per hour. <br /><br />Apr. 22 Lyrids: Radiant-- near Vega. 15 per hour, bright and long lasting meteors. From Comet Thatcher. <br /><br />April 25 Mu Virginids: Radiant--near Libra. 7 to 10 per hour of medium speed meteors. <br /><br />Apr. 28 Alpha Bootids: Radiant-- near Arcturus. From Apr. 14 to May 13. Slow meteors with fine trails. <br /><br />May 1 Phi Bootids: Radiant--near Hercules. From Apr. 16 to May 12. 6 per hour. <br /><br />May 3 Alpha Scorpiids: Radiant-- Near Antares. F

 

[newtonian]

harnonicaman - Thank you.<br /><br />I saw one over 1 week ago. I wonder if it was a Pegasid or Orionid or ....<br /><br />It was fast, small fireball end, slight angle from vertical.<br /><br />Is there a way of determining which was the source?<br /><br />I know there are also aberrant meteors.<br /><br />

 

[harmonicaman]

Hi Newt-<br /><br />Determining a meteor's source...<br /><br />I don't think you can determine a single meteor's source with much accuracy; you really need to plot the track of several observations to get a good triangulation... Note that many meteor showers overlap and sporadics add to the confusion.<br /><br />Here's a Java script "Meteor Shower Radiant Calculator":<br /><br />http://home.att.net/~srschmitt/script_meteor_showers.html

 

[spacester]

harmonicaman!<br /><br />Hey everybody, harmonicaman is back!<br /><br />Very very cool.<br /><br />Good to see you sir! Welcome back! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[harmonicaman]

Thanks Spacester!<br /><br />For God's sake don't make kids - you never get time to play by yourself! (I don't know how Calli is able to do it...!)

 

[markj_87]

I have a couple of meteor shower related questions myself. The first shower I saw was the Perseids this year and they were great, and since then I've made an effort to see as many as I can (I saw a nice Orionid meteor a couple of weeks back, for instance). Anyway, say a meteor shower's peak is given as 18th November, would that allude to the night before or after the actual 18th? The reason I ask this seemingly dumb question is that a meteor shower peaks in the early morning near dawn. So would a peak on the 18th relate to the early morning of the 18th (only a few hours into the actual day, the night after the 17th), or would it be the next night, which comes after the daytime of the 18th (and into the morning of the 19th)? This always confuses me and I don't want to go out on the wrong night.<br /><br />Also, is it true that the Leonids are pretty unspectacular recently? I was planning to possibly go out onto the moors to watch them where there is negligible light pollution, but I won't bother if there will only be a few meteors per hour. Especially given that there's a near full moon on the 18th this year.<br /><br />Thanks!

 

[harmonicaman]

Grabbed this from the ALPO Meteor Shower List here:<br /><br />http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~rhill/alpo/meteorstuff/metshwr.html<br /><br />Meteor showers are best seen on or near the date of maximum activity. <br />To see a meteor shower at its best the radiant must be more than <br />halfway up in the sky. Unfortunately most showers are best seen only <br />during the early morning hours. Radiants with a positive declination <br />are better seen from the Northern Hemisphere while those with minus <br />declinations are better seen from the Southern Hemisphere. <br /><br />The radiant drift is the daily motion in minutes eastward in right <br />ascension and either north or south in tenths of a degree for <br />delcination. This is useful for determining the radiant position away <br />from the night of maximum activity. The average drift is 4.0 minutes <br />eastward and 0.2 or 0.3 degrees north or south per day. Please remember <br />that the radiant position will lie west of the listed position before <br />the date of maximum activity <br />and east of the listed position after the date of maximum activity. <br /><br />"With regards to velocity, 0-25 km/sec. is considered slow, 25-50 <br />km/sec. is considered average, and 50-75 km/sec. is considered swift." <br /><br />A showers rating is a measurement of its strength and reliability. The <br />4 classes are described below: <br /><br />I - The strongest annual showers with ZHR's always above 10 at maximum <br />activity. <br /><br />II - Dependable minor showers with ZHR's of a least 3 at <br />maximum activity. <br /><br />III - Showers with irregular rates. The display may <br />be strong one year and totally absent the next. <br /><br />IV - Weak minorshowers that are difficult to separate from the sporadic <br />background. These showers are best left to the most experienced <br />observers who use plotting and velocity to determine a meteors <br />cla

 

[mpai]

The North American Meteor Network Observing Guide for information on what to record during a meteor shower is available at this link <br /><br />http://www.namnmeteors.org/guide.html. <br /><br />You can get their nice charts for the purpose here<br /><br />http://www.namnmeteors.org/charts.html <br /><br />Complete calander of Meteor showers for the year 2005 here<br /><br />http://www.imo.net/calendar/2005/fall<br /><br />Happy counting<br />

 

[zer01zero]

Thanks for the excellent post harmonicaman,<br /><br />The Taurids are causing a stir here in Sydney. LINK <br /><br />I live in the city proper so much of the sky is hidden by the lights but I hope I get a chance to see a good show.

 

[markj_87]

Thanks for the information, guys. I just saw a cracking Taurid shoot half way across the sky and it was gracefully slow as well.<br /><br />So if the Leonids are expected to peak on November 17th, is that the early morning of the 17th or the evening of the 17th?