Leonids

MossRoad · Nov 19, 2001

1966 was the last GREAT leonids, but I have been going out every year since I was a little kid and watching this shower each fall, weather permitting. It has always been great. When I was a kid, we even heard some pop and boom. Those were the ones that scared me. Streaked half way across the sky with a big head turning white green and red, then busting up into several pieces. My dad was some what the amatuer astronomer( along with architecture, Egyptology, water colors and other cool stuff). He built his own telescope, a 6 inch reflector. He even ground his own mirror. When he died, I took it and all the accessories. I enjoy taking my 8 year old out to watch when the weather permits. A great program for watching the sky is called Star Calc. It is freeware and will show you the location of everything in the sky at any time at any location on earth. Can be found here http://www.relex.ru/~zalex/main.htm

<font color=green> MossRoad </font color=green>

huckflynn · Nov 19, 2001

I downloaded Star Calc. Looks very interesting. Should be fun to use over the coming winter months. Thanks for the tip.

MossRoad · Nov 19, 2001

My 8 year old prints out a page for that night as soon as dinner is over. We go out in the back yard and up in her sky fort and she orients the page to the north and she starts picking out the brighter constellations since we live near the city. The planets are really fun. One night last week we saw Mars, Saturn and Jupiter, then I got her up the next morning to see Mercury and Venus. I asked her how many planets she saw in the last two days and she counted 5. I counted 6. She looked puzzled. I said, what about the one we're standing on? She got a big smile.

<font color=green> MossRoad </font color=green>

JJT · Nov 19, 2001

Huckflynn, we slept in until 5am, also from upstate NY - Fantastic light show. My wife and I froze our butts off but it was worth it. My 9 yr old wouldn't come in even after the sun started to come up, you could still see the trails.

Where are you in upstate NY? I'm 50 west of Albany and grew up near Lage George.

Alan L. · Nov 19, 2001

Sorry I missed it. The only show I saw was was being played on the back of my eyelids.

Alan L., TX
South of Bugtussle
North of Mustang
On the banks of Buck Creek