Nov 15/16 Meteors

Carl Hergenrother

A good number of meteors were detected over Tucson and San Diego last night. Tonight (Nov 16/17) marks the peak of the Leonids and hopefully they will provide us with some surprises.

From Bob Lunsford’s notes: “It was another totally clear night in San Diego. I had a late start due to other commitments. I probably did not miss much as there are many more birds and bugs seen in the evening skies compared to meteors. The Leonid rates are getting interesting. The Leonids are unmistakable on video as they are mostly swift and the brighter members leave persistent trains. The next few nights should provide many more.”

Obs  Date (UT)   TotTime TOT SPO NTA STA LEO AMO
TUS  2008-11-16  11h 48m  37  21  6   2   8   0
SDG  2008-11-16  08h 16m  68  38  10  6   13  1

TUS – Camera in Tucson operated by Carl Hergenrother
SDG – Camera in San Diego operated by Bob Lunsford
TotTime – Total amount of time each camera looked for meteors
TOT – Total number of meteors detected
SPO – Sporadics (meteors not affiliated with any particular meteor shower)
NTA – Northern Taurids
STA – Southern Taurids
LEO – Leonids
AMO – Alpha Monocerotids

Published by Carl Hergenrother

I am a professional astronomer specializing in the study of comets, asteroids and meteors. This blog will focus on my professional and amateur work in this field.

3 Comments

  1. My husband and I spotted a meteor at 9:15p.m. (MST) Tuscon time, heading south near Sabino Canyon, Tucson, AZ that was, at least from our amateur perspective, a doozy. It transited the lower SSE sky traveling from the west towards the east. It was at first, what seemed like a common but bright white meteor, it turned brilliant traffic light green, grew in size before a long and magnificent tail of fire began to trail the BIG green fire ball. Sparks were flying! We had our car windows up and the radio on but we none the less listened for an impact, expecting to hear one…no boom was heard. We watched it as it passed below the southern horizon.

  2. I was floating in the pool in Hot Desert Springs, CA around 10PM (PST) and an very healthy sized orange ball with a very long tail flew across the sky. (SE to NW) I was speechless. I did note there was some visable wobble to the orb itself, but the tail laid straight behind. It was an amazing sight for someone who had not been in the desert for 30 years. Within 5 minutes, a shooting star flew by…but, I assume this is a more common site.

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