The 1999 Leonids meteor shower [ http://www.skypub.c…] was not equally good for everybody. Only observers in Europe [ http://www.eso.org/…] and the Middle East with clear skies near 2 am (UTC) on 1999 November 18 saw rates shoot up to a meteor every few seconds. Above [ http://www.skylook.…], however, is a picture taken from Spain during this time, with over a dozen faint meteors visible as green streaks [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] eminating from Leo [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] during just a six minute exposure. Although more numerous, the 1999 Leonids [ http://www.imo.net/…] did not have the same high proportion of bright meteors and fireballs as the 1998 Leonids [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. Last year's Leonid fireballs [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] have been traced back [ http://www.arm.ac.u…] to the 1333 passage of Comet Tempel-Tuttle [ http://www.lowell.e…]. The orbit of Jupiter [ http://www.seds.org…] continually deflected one stream of cast-off particles while the smallest meteors [ http://leonids.hq.n…] in this stream were removed by light pressure [ http://www.esc.cam.…] from the Sun. The remaining Leonids [ http://leonidslive.…] were relatively large, pea [ http://www.umext.ma…] sized or larger, compared to the sand [ http://www.paccd.cc…]-sized Leonids that are more common.
Explanation
The 1999 Leonids meteor shower [ http://www.skypub.c…] was not equally good for everybody. Only observers in Europe [ http://www.eso.org/…] and the Middle East with clear skies near 2 am (UTC) on 1999 November 18 saw rates shoot up to a meteor every few seconds. Above [ http://www.skylook.…], however, is a picture taken from Spain during this time, with over a dozen faint meteors visible as green streaks [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] eminating from Leo [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] during just a six minute exposure. Although more numerous, the 1999 Leonids [ http://www.imo.net/…] did not have the same high proportion of bright meteors and fireballs as the 1998 Leonids [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. Last year's Leonid fireballs [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] have been traced back [ http://www.arm.ac.u…] to the 1333 passage of Comet Tempel-Tuttle [ http://www.lowell.e…]. The orbit of Jupiter [ http://www.seds.org…] continually deflected one stream of cast-off particles while the smallest meteors [ http://leonids.hq.n…] in this stream were removed by light pressure [ http://www.esc.cam.…] from the Sun. The remaining Leonids [ http://leonidslive.…] were relatively large, pea [ http://www.umext.ma…] sized or larger, compared to the sand [ http://www.paccd.cc…]-sized Leonids that are more common.
Explanation
Credit and Copyright:
Juan Carlos Casado [ mailto:jccasado@skyl ook.net ]
Credit_and_Copyright
Juan Carlos Casado [ mailto:jccasado@skyl ook.net ]
