Meteor shower could give Interior Alaska a show
But annual Leonid appearance may be blotted by moon
Published Sunday, November 16, 2008
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Stumble It!FAIRBANKS — The sky will be falling tonight, as stargazers have a chance to see the Leonid meteor shower late in the evening and into the wee hours of the morning.
The shower is expected to peak after midnight Monday morning, giving hopeful skywatchers the greatest chance to see shooting stars or make a few wishes if the skies are clear.
Cloudy skies may bar observers from seeing much, however, as the National Weather Service predicts mostly cloudy skies tonight, with a chance of snow after midnight. In addition, the almost-full moon may blot out all but the brightest meteors.
The Leonid meteor shower happens every year around Nov. 17, spilling across the sky from the constellation Leo, which is in the southwest portion of the night sky.
Despite the potentially unfavorable conditions, Fairbanks Astronomical Unit member Martin Gutoski said spectators could see a few meteors every hour.
The meteor shower peaks every 33 years or so.
From 1999-2002 the Leonids were very active, said Neal Brown, the former director of the Alaska Space Grant Program.
Brown recently retired after 45 years of service to the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Though he said his specialty was not meteors, he had a variety of information about the annual shower.
Brown and Gutoski join several university professors and amateur stargazers in the Astronomical Unit, which next hosts a stargazing party Nov. 29 at Creamer’s Field.
Brown said the meteors are actually the result of pieces of debris that have fallen off a comet named Temple-Tuttle, which orbits the sun every 33.25 years.
“It’s just leftover debris from the comet, which is a dusty ice ball that orbits our sun,” he said.
Brown also noted that the comet’s trail of dust and debris was created across millions of years.
“As the Earth orbits around the sun, we bump into this dust trail that’s not uniform,” Brown said. “So each year, you find that there’s variation in how strong and in how many meteors we see.”
Gutoski’s fascination with stars began when he was 10 years old with the launch of Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite.
These days, he spends most of his time gazing at planets rather than meteors and calls watching meteor showers a “lawn chair phenomenon.”
“There’s really nothing you can do with a telescope, but it’s really a backyard activity that anyone can enjoy,” he said. “If you’ve got time and can stay up a few hours later, it’s really a spectacle.”
Gutoski, Brown and the Astronmical Unit host several star parties each year at Creamer’s Field, allowing astronomy enthusiasts to get up close with the stars without leaving Fairbanks. For more information about the Fairbanks Astronomical Unit, contact Martin Gutoski at 488-0927.
Contact staff writer Rebecca George at 459-7504.
Community Discussion
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This is good. There's lots of folks out here in Goldstream that could use a shower.
The better conditions to see meteors are on a dark night, before snow is on the ground- with no moon. The same applies for Northern Lights- and its even better as the temps are above freezing.
And Neal finally retired? Wow- what a career. Fairbanks is lucky to have him.
F=g m1 m2/r2
Boy talk about bait and switch. The headline gives the reader hope to watch a meteor shower, then you open the article and BAM, no shooting stars for you Fairbanks too cloudy!
There are several other meteor 'showers', but they are lesser ones. Still, last years' Taurids were quite good.
It's also true that probably THE BEST meteor shower, the Perseids, happen in mid August, so Alaskans never get to see them....
Hope it clears so you can see them.... one of my best memories of life with my late husband was the night I dragged him out of bed to come see the Leonids with me. He was crabbing the entire time we walked down the snowy sidewalk to sit on the truck tailgate. I turned around to tell him to hush up only to see a brilliant flash of green that made his face, the trees, and the house light up. He stopped dead in his tracks and said 'Holy $*(#)! WOW!' It was a Leonid fireball. We were treated to dozens of them that night. Awesome!
Can't do much about the weather, sourdough. If you want someone to fix the clouds, you'll have to talk to a higher authority. All we can do is let you know what's going on and hope the skies clear for a good show tonight.
I heard that the HAARP array was making the clouds so that we couldn't see the terrorist UFO's that will be mixed in with the meteors, they're going to land outside of town and sneak into your houses for your GUNS!
This was all conceived, planned and ordered by Obama of course.
The Chinise say its a sacred to have sex under these meteor showers.
Thanks for the info wisechief. I'm off to bed.
The_Alaska_Curmudgeon: Good one!!!
LostAlaskan99712: Oh come on... We all know the U.F.O's don't come this far North, it's too stinking cold!!!
I know- "colder than the vacuum of space"
I've got some extra foil if you need to reinforce your hat, heheh.
Saw a couple fall the middle of last week on the way home; always ver' cool.
That's a really sweet story, Susie77. If there's a 'beyond', I'm sure he still watches meteors with you . . .
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