Get ready for another night of fantastic meteors, after a brilliant meteor shower coming from the Leonids, the Geminids may also prove to be a spectacular show. Forecasters expect a brilliant ZHR of 140+. (For now you can drool all you want) and lets hope that they are right this time unlike the Leonids which got downgraded alteast 2 times.

On the bright side our neighboring satellite will be almost extinct with only 3 days to go to a new moon then.

See Sky Map

Rest assured the Bohemians will be there on site chasing it.

More Info coming soon

Image Courtesy & Copyright: Gowtham
EXIF: (9.11.09) Nikon D200 at ISO 100, f/2.8 fisheye. Single shot exposure 2 hrs

At around 7 pm in the freezing Michigan nights, and 2 hours of conversation later, we get this beautiful picture of the stars going around Polaris. Pictures like this make the whole thing a rewarding experience

Hi

As many of you might remember the world will remember Dr. Carl Sagan on his 75th birthday on November 9th. He was an American astronomer, astrochemist, author, and highly successful popularizer of astronomy, astrophysics and other natural sciences. He pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI).
He is world-famous for writing popular science books and for co-writing and presenting the award-winning 1980 television series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, which has been seen by more than 500 million people in over 60 countries. A book to accompany the program was also published. He also wrote the novel Contact, the basis for the 1997 film of the same name. One of the last books he wrote was Pale Blue Dot. During his lifetime, Sagan published more than 600 scientific papers and popular articles and was author, co-author, or editor of more than 20 books. In his works, he frequently advocated skeptical inquiry, secular humanism, and the scientific method.

Remembering him The Amateur Astronomers Association Delhi will celebrate Sagan Day on Sunday, 8th November 2009 , where at 12:30 there will be a special screening of the movie ‘Contact’ starring Jodie Foster.

Next there will be a special lecture on Leonid Meteor Shower by astronomer Ajay Talwar. The skywatchers at Caltech predict a great Leonid storm this year. The Leonids are supposed to show a rate of 500 to 1000 per hour. That my friends is nothing short of a shower-storm, and if the predictions are correct this opportunity is not to be missed!

I invite you all to please be there to remember Dr. Sagan and have Leonid talk with us at the AAAD room in the Nehru Planetarium, Teen Murti Bhawan , New Delhi-11 at 12:30 afternoon.

This year the Leonids promise to be a spectacular show. After many harrowing experiences of watching meteor showers from urban conditions, I’d thought I would refrain from watching any more rocks tumbing out of the sky. But those people at NASA have me convinced otherwise

The skywatchers at Caltech predict a great Leonid storm this year. The Leonids are supposed to show a rate of 500 to 1000 per hour. That my friends is nothing short of a shower-storm, and if the predictions are correct NOT TO BE MISSED!
All this excitement happens on the night of Nov 17th 2009

So plan ahead, drive away from city lights. If you’re in Delhi/ Gurgaon, HUDA’s SARAS complex in Dam dama is ideal. Its not that far (45 Km from Dhaula Kuan) and fairly shaded from city skyglow.

Some tips if you are a n00b

1- Go to a dark sky site
2- take warm clothing, food with you
3- You may want to carry a recliner chair for ease of watching
4- Meteor showers are in high intensity usually near dawn/dusk. Only true if the radiant (that point where the shower apparently radiates from) is above the horizon
5-Respect the place…Clean up your trash….very important

See Sky Map

Updates

10.11.09: Realised 16th Nov (a day before) is a new moon night. The storm visibility would be awesome, perfect timing 🙂

11.11.09:New predictions estimate 200-300 per hour, still a good show , Hence the updated title of this page
11.11.09:See Detailed star map

16.11.09: Scouted for Early Leonids, 0900-0940 UTC, observed rate of 40 per hour from MI, USA. This is still superior to IMO’s live stats available at the time reporting a ZHRmax of around 20 at the time

17.11.09: Maximum today. Estimated Max occurs at 2143 UTC with an uncertainty of +1 hr

17.11.09: Leonids put up a Good show. IMO reported a peak ZHR activity of 130 per hr. For those of you folks in the NCR and Delhi, sorry about the weather :(. Looking forward to feedback from groups gone to Sariska and Simla