I saw a BIG meteor looking towards the east last night at about 9 pm — a long, bright fall, north to south, right around Orion's belt.  That was earlier than than predicted so I don't know if it was an early comer or a coincidence.  My ancient, beloved Lab woke me up at 4 am to go out, and I saw a few faint ones then, too.  Good enough, though!

 dionysius wrote: 

 dionysius wrote: 
Bugger. Didn't know.
 
 
BTW, got the message, looks good. Better with PM's - don't FB much, codes probably cracked by the bad chaps. Meet under the clocktower at St Pancras, will be wearing carnation, copy of The Guardian under ones arm.

Who else saw some Airborne Leonid Events?

Got up at 4am.  Bundled up.  Teen just grunted, hubby wanted to sleep some more.

I stayed on the deck for 10 minutes... saw two really dramatic long meteors.  (It's no fun in the cold and dark all by myself).

Came back to bed.

Then we heard teen putting on his outdoor gear.  He was bummed that I wasn't outside any more.  But I didn't want to bundle up again.  So, the hubby got up.

They were outside for about 20 minutes, and probably saw 10 good ones. 

I'll be hanging out with friends after sunset today, which is another possible viewing time. 

Asia is poised to get a very exciting meteor shower.  Here in the US?  meh.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/space/11/16/nasa.leonid.meteors/index.html

 dionysius wrote: 
his eyebrows... might as well be a thought balloon: "fascinating"

Anyway, I like this link.  Leonid Meteor Showers.

 rosedraws wrote: 

Yeah, been a while since I've seen a Leonid.

Leonids!  Stay up very late, or get up super early before work tomorrow.

Another good option is after dark Tuesday.

< Title starts > The 2009 Orionid Meteor Shower

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October 19, 2009: The Orionid meteor shower peaks this week and it could be a very good show.

"Earth is passing through a stream of debris from Halley's Comet, the source of the Orionids," says Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. "Flakes of comet dust hitting the atmosphere should give us dozens of meteors per hour."

 lunar1963 wrote: 
December last year there were two planets "near" the new moon, Jupiter and Venus IIRC.

Last night I assume it was Venus that was so bright. We had a crystal clear night last night and I just stood and gawked at it for a while. Nice.

---

There's a dim green comet in the sky, and you can spot it with a pair of binoculars — even through moderate light pollution. But you'll have to know exactly where to look. The chart at right should get you there. It shows the starry scene at about 9 p.m. through March 1st.

(The viewing will actually be a bit better later at night, when the comet and its background rise higher in the sky. After 10 p.m., look for this scene higher and more toward the southeast.)

The comet, formally known as "C/2007 N3 (Lulin)", was discovered at Lulin Observatory in Taiwan in July 2007. In telescopes and low-light images, it showed both a dim gas tail and a dust-spike antitail pointing in nearly opposite directions for a couple of months. As of late February and the beginning of March the tails become more aligned. And the comet's overall brightness should be about magnitude 5.5 or 6.0.

 lunar1963 wrote: 
Another easy way to find the North Star is to look at the Big Dipper. Take the last 2 stars of the dipper, (the bottom star at the end of the dipper cup, and the top star) make an imaginary straight line from the bottom star through the top star, follow that line and the next bright star you come to is Polaris, which is also the end of the handle of the Little Dipper. (It's a lot easier to show someone than to tell them, I'm discovering)

 ScopArch wrote: 
 
Polaris is always in the north, broadly speaking the earths axis points at it, and at night the rest of the night sky appears to revolve around it. Very useful for navigation, I helped bring a little 35' yacht back from La Coruna many years ago, and the skipper was very keen to save battery power, so while crossing the emptier bits of the Bay of Biscay he turned off the nav lights and the compass light, but as we were heading north by north east it was easy to use the pole star to steer by, and much easier on the eye and the soul.
 
Best planet experience was when Mars was closest to Earth, a few years ago. We were sat on Bayards Cove looking out of the harbour entrance, in the late summer at 4.30pm having a pint. As you looked out to sea you could see Mars, in broad daylight, hanging low in the afternoon sky. Extraordinary sight - it did look very malevolent, no wonder it gained its reputation as the harbinger of war.

So, I'm lost. I look at the lttle dipper, find Polaris, and that's North? Cool! (provided I know what's up North, but at least moving in a straight line will get you somewhere)

 lunar1963 wrote: 
Rod is right. Polaris isnt that bright.
Google Sky doesn't give information on irregular events like the positions of the planets.
Venus is usually the brightest body in the sky.
Except for when Servo is traveling intercontinentally.

 hippiechick wrote: 
Those are very handy. I have a couple of them at home. They don't show the planets though since the alignments are always changing. They are great for learning the constellations.

 lunar1963 wrote: 
Yes, Venus is the very bright planet appearing near the moon lately. Polaris is up there too, but can be found as the last bit of the handle in the little dipper. Polaris is not nearly as bright. 

 lunar1963 wrote: 
When my kids were small, we had a circle in a kind of frame, that you could pick the date, and it would show the stars in the sky at that time.

 lunar1963 wrote: 
Mars does tend to have a reddish cast to it.
Jupiter is cool to look at; you can see some of it's moons with good binoculars.

 ScopArch wrote: 

But shouldn't that be in the North at least?