Sometimes you just have to stop and watch the meteors [ http://www.seds.org…meteorites.html ]. In the early morning hours of November 18, a band of eleven people searched for a flat and cloudless site to see the 2001 Leonids Meteor Shower [ http://SpaceWeather…]. Starting in central Iowa [ http://www.state.ia…], weather satellite images indicated that southern Minnesota [ http://www.state.mn…] might be their best chance, and so off they drove. Although they couldn't shake off all of the clouds, they found a dark gravel road, pulled off, and settled in for the rare celestial light show [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. "By about 4 am, we were visually counting 1000 per hour. After that they started to increase dramatically." The photographer was just a little too late to catch a really bright fireball [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], but did catch several other bright Leonid meteors [ http://comets.amsme…] above one of the cars in the convoy. The exposure lasted a few minutes.
