Originally posted by pa.Frost
it is just strange that MSM is more worried about ms. spears than stuff like this cuz i had no knowledge about any other meteors until now.
As far as the MSM is concerned, the public has a short attention span when it comes to things like this, so it's usually right at the end of the
news, and then gone, if you get to hear of events like this at all (as your experience proves).
This probably wont hit the MSM at all unless some decent footage turns up, which is looking less and less likely now, but you never know...
It's a shame that most people are not informed that events like this are a fairly common occurrence, and it plays right into the hands of conspiracy
theorists.
Personally I sometimes wonder if the real conspiracy is that astronomy is not on the school curriculum, but realistically, for most people an event
like this is once in a life time, and most people seem to go their whole lives without ever really spending any time looking up, so it doesn't make
any sense as far as governments are concerned to teach astronomy in schools.
Even if you could teach it, there is so much light pollution now, that seeing anything apart from the moon, the sun and Venus can sometimes be
hard!
Rant over (sorry

)
If you've (or anybody else reading this) never spent a night watching a meteor shower, you're in for a treat. A couple of well placed nights (10 hrs
observing) could easily net you a few hundred meteors including a handful of fireballs, with a little bit of good luck.
Knowing when to watch it crucial, and some patience is not a bad thing either, since meteor showers can be fickle - but it goes both ways, one year
may be a dud, and the next year an unexpected outburst or even a storm, although we are starting to predict storms with a fair bit of certainty now.
So keep an eye on the Space Exploration forum for a heads up on the next meteor showers
The next major shower, the
Lyrids is just 3 weeks away now, and the peak is on a
moonless night which is always a bonus!
Other highlights of the year will be the Perseids in August (although with moonlight interference), the Orionids in October, and the Leonids in
November. The Geminids in December is also usually a good bet for a reliable performance.