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Astronomers Can’t Wait To Catch Leonid Meteor Rain Take a shower this week, but you need to set your alarm if you want to see the best performance. From midnight on November 16 to dawn on November 17, the maximum is 10 to 20 meteors per hour. Only half of that amount is visible from the UK, as some of them are below the horizon.
Every night of stargazing, you can see two meteors every hour. Meteors, commonly known as “shooting stars,” are light bulbs caused by the burning of dust or rock as they pass through Earth’s atmosphere. Incredibly, they are usually the size of a grain of sand, but they travel so fast (around 66 km / s) that they create a trail that sparkles with bright stars.
Every now and then, Earth’s orbit takes us to a particularly dense cosmic wreck, a trail of rock and earth left in the background. Asteroid or comet. We see it as a meteor. The Leonid rain is associated with the comet with 55P / Temple-Tuttle.
The annual Leonid meteor shower usually occurs November 10-20 and peaks on the morning of November 17 this year. It may not be the most productive annual meteorite, with the Leonids producing a “meteorite” every 33 years, where hundreds or thousands of meteors can be seen. It last happened in 1999-2001, with over 1,000 shooting stars per hour.
More information on stargazing:
Meteorites get their name from their brightness, i.e. where they originated from the sky. For example, the Leonid meteorite appears to come from the constellation of Leo. Leonids are fast, bright meteors with thin trails.
For meteorites, let your eyes adjust to the darkness, then look straight ahead. It may take about 30 minutes for the night vision to fully adjust, so don’t look at your phone or use a flashlight while stargazing.
Although meteorites come from Leo, it’s not important to find that mass – they can travel across the sky. So, to give yourself the best chance, make sure you can see the sky as much as possible, without interruptions from buildings or trees. Most importantly, make sure you are comfortable with a chair (sleep is better), a blanket and a flask of hot chocolate with you.
Don’t worry if you get lost this time, the Geminid meteor will happen in December.
Reader Questions: Can You Feel the Meteor?
Asked by: Harry McClure, Bornstaple
Meteors can create sound waves. They can create a sonic boom just like they do with a fast-moving plane as it passes through the atmosphere. However, because meteors are usually 100 kilometers high or more and sound travels much slower than light, such sonic booms are not heard until several minutes before the meteorite is visible to viewers on Earth. Also, the noise may not be loud enough to be heard.
Some people claim to hear hissing or buzzing sounds at the same time when looking at the meteor. These can be caused by very low frequency radio waves generated by meteorites, which arrive at the same time that the observer sees the meteorite traveling above them. These waves have been shown to vibrate mirrors, plant leaves, pine needles and hair. It somehow describes the hissing sounds.
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