Leonid meteor shower 2008 - This week!

We had kind of forgotten about the Nov. Leonid showers until driving home this evening. We were heading due north in central IL around 8:45 pm, when suddenly a brilliant streak flashed from east to west, about as straight north from us as is possible. It was so low that my son in the rear seat of our van witnessed it through the front window. It was long and flashed from white into a beautiful green, then a brief yellow, and vanished. We were all absolutely enthralled! What a delight, heavenly fireworks!

Important news for all Leonid enthusiasts!

I was hoping to break this news in my own time, and with a new thread (which it probably deserves), but NASA beat me to it since I've been very busy lately.

All of you that have been paying attention may have noticed me say that next year the Leonids should be good. This year's shower was strong as predicted, and with the data gathered from observers around the world the predictions for next year's Leonids have been yet further refined.

Here's what NASA has to say:

Dec. 4, 2008: Astronomers from Caltech and NASA say a strong shower of Leonid meteors is coming in 2009. Their prediction follows an outburst on Nov. 17, 2008, that broke several years of "Leonid quiet" and heralds even more intense activity next November.

"On Nov. 17, 2009, we expect the Leonids to produce upwards of 500 meteors per hour," says Bill Cooke of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. "That's a very strong display."

Forecasters define a meteor storm as 1000 or more meteors per hour. That would make the 2009 Leonids "a half-storm," says Jeremie Vaubaillon of Caltech, who successfully predicted a related outburst just a few weeks ago.

Source: NASA

As it says in the link, the timing favors Asia. The further West you go the lower the peak rate will be, although Eastern Europe and central Europe/Africa should also see fairly high rates. Those in the UK/Western Europe should watch early on Nov 17 next year for a possible outburst of Leonid earth grazers (nothing to sneer at), but will miss the highest rates that those in the East should see.

This is a good chance to plan ahead if you are not somewhere that will see good rates, and arrange a trip to somewhere like Turkey where the rates should be good and the sky is likely to be clear.

2009 will likely be the best display of Leonids for the next 20 years - so make the most of it

[edit on 4-12-2008 by C.H.U.D.]