Clouds will spoil view of Leonid shower
Now the forecasters out at Sterling are predicting another cold front will cut through these parts Saturday night into Sunday. We could see snow and rain showers. And it will almost certainly obscure our view of the peak of this year's Leonid meteor shower early Sunday morning.
So, we'll sleep in. But just in case the clouds part, here's what I had intended to write for Saturday's Weather Page comments:
With luck, clouds will clear tonight and give us a good look at Sunday morning’s peak of the annual Leonid meteor shower. This display is one of the year’s best, averaging 15 meteors per hour where skies are darkest. Dust from Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle smacks the atmosphere at 44 miles per second, making Leonids fast and bright. Half leave persistent trains. No moon will interfere, but get as far as possible from urban lighting. Best time to look: from 2 a.m. until skies brighten.
Comments
I'm still gonna give it a look. Outside Middleburg, VA at 2200 tonight. Hoping for clear skies.
Posted by: hysdavid | November 17, 2007 8:31 AM
Good luck. Anyone who's lucky enough to have clear skies, be sure to come back here and let the rest of us know how it went. I look forward to your reports.
Posted by: frank roylance | November 17, 2007 8:57 AM
Saw a few meteors but no meteor shower. The clouds were light and there were patches of clear sky. The forecast was for clearer skies to our south. Maybe people there could see more. Quite mild for November. After the moon set the light pollution from encroaching NoVA development became apparent.
Posted by: hysdavid | November 18, 2007 11:15 AM