Nov 20/21 Meteors

Carl Hergenrother

Clouds have started to creep back into the American Southwest. Though they were little more than a temporary nuisance in Tucson, they cut Bob’s night in half at his  sight in San Diego. The Leonids are still hanging on at a much reduced level from earlier in the week. The Tucson cameras also appeared to pick up some healthy activity from the Alpha Monocerotids which were predicted to be near their peak last night.

Bob’ notes for the night of Nov 20/21 : “It was clear up to 0700 UT (11pm PST). After that it was partly cloudy for most of the remainder of the night. After 1200 UT (4am PST) it was almost totally overcast. Meteor totals were only half of what was recorded the previous night. The weather forecast is for more favorable skies tonight through the Thanksgiving holiday.”

Obs  Date(UT)      Time    TOT SPO NTA STA LEO AMO NOO AND OER
TUS  2009-11-21   07h59m    48  24  1   1   8   7   4   0   2
SDG  2009-11-21   10h55m    31  22  5   -   1   0   3   0   -

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/STA – Northern and Southern Taurids (includes Antihelions)
LEO – Leonids
AMO – Alpha Monocerotids
NOO – November Orionids
AND – Andromedids
OER – Omicron Eridanids

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.

12 Comments

  1. can anyone help me i know i saw a huge fire ball in the sky that had a tail and i saw piece break off and disappear what did i see and did any one lese i live in paramus new jersey 12 miles outside new york city

  2. I saw one at about 6:00PM Saturday night, Nov. 21. It was huge! It had a huge tail & I must’ve watched it cross the sky for 6 seconds or so. I’ve never seen anything like that before! I live about 35 miles north of Boston.

    1. I was driving on the garden state parkway in new jersey around the 60 mile marker and saw the same thing. I was looking north and it was flying by with fireballs shooting off the back. I thought it was a few miles ahead of me but i guess not if you saw it from boston. it was right around 6 pm

  3. I am in Upton, MA we saw the same fireball about 6pm saturday. I could have sworn it landed miles from me but I guess not.

  5. Also from Upton. I was camping with a Boy Scout Troop at the base of Mt. Monadnock when it came over about 5:50 Saturday night.

  6. My husband & I saw the same object; what has been referred to as a fireball w/ a tail streaking across the sky. We live in Lexington, MA. At approximately 6:50 PM EST I stepped outside my front door and immediately saw a bright object, traveling east to west, traveling twice the speed of the routine aircraft that typically pass over my neighborhood en-route to Hanscomb AFB in Bedford, MA.

  7. Cool! I spoke to a woman who lives in Brentwood, NH, about 10 mils or so as the crow flies from where I saw the fireball and a member of her family saw it, too. Same time, about 6:00PM, EST.

  8. Correction – I made a typo on the time. I saw the bolide at 5:50pm as I was heading outside my house to go across town to babysit at 6:00PM.

  9. The large meteor fall that took place on 21 Nov 2009 was caught on the security camera of the Mustek building in Midrand, South Africa. Footage is posted at

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