shooting star

Some guy in here said if you look in to the at night for 15 minuets you have
a 50% chance of seeing a shooting star, what a load of rubbish.

You see 6 times as many shooting stars after midnight than before.

You see 100 times as many in the country than in the city.

You see none if its cloudy.


"Lloyd JONES" wrote in message
...
Some guy in here said if you look in to the at night for 15 minuets you
have
a 50% chance of seeing a shooting star, what a load of rubbish.

Lloyd Jones posted:

Some guy in here said if you look in to the at night for 15 minuets you have
a 50% chance of seeing a shooting star, what a load of rubbish.

Well, it isn't exactly "rubbish", although it does depend a little on chance.
There are "sporadic" meteors visible in the night sky which are not part of
any major shower, so, if you are lucky, it is possible to see meteors at
almost anytime the sky is reasonably dark. Away from city lights and when the
moon is not up, the rate of sporatics is from 2 to 6 per hour over the entire
sky. It can get up to as high as 7 to 9 per hour after local midnight, and
some very "broad" showers (ie: with several weeks of activity, such as the
Taurids) can boost that level a bit beyond this. In the major showers, rates
can sometimes be double or triple the sporadic rate. The Perseid meteor
shower often produces rates from 40 to as high as 100 meteors per hour.
However, the number of sporadic "non-shower" meteors per 15 minute interval
can be as low as zero and as high as the sporadic rate for the entire hour, so
it really isn't possible to assign much of a hard probability here. There is
a good chance that if you go out some night after midnight away from city
lights and watch the sky for one full hour, you will see at least one or two
meteors. Clear skies to you.
--
David W. Knisely
Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
Hyde Memorial Observatory: http://www.hydeobservatory.info/

**********************************************
* Attend the 11th Annual NEBRASKA STAR PARTY *
* July 18-23, 2004, Merritt Reservoir *
* http://www.NebraskaStarParty.org *
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On Sat, 01 May 2004 11:35:04 -0400, Lloyd JONES wrote:

Some guy in here said if you look in to the at night for 15 minuets you
have a 50% chance of seeing a shooting star, what a load of rubbish.


I don't know about 50% but your chances are pretty darn good. There are
many sporadic meteors flying around out there. Almost any clear night you
are bound to see at least 1 or 2. The more you look up the better your
chances are, naturally.

I must admit guys I really didn't think that it were that many shooting
stars hitting our earth every day, im not a scientist at astronomy and
probably don't know as much as you guys but I find it very fascinating.

LJ

"Lloyd JONES" wrote in message
...
I must admit guys I really didn't think that it were that many shooting
stars hitting our earth every day, im not a scientist at astronomy and
probably don't know as much as you guys but I find it very fascinating.

You have misunderstood what was said. Nobody said that they were "hitting
our earth."

"Shooting stars" are meteoroids which have entered the Earth's atmosphere
and become meteors. Most are somewhat bigger than a grain of sand and
somewhat smaller than a grain of rice. A relatively tiny number of meteors
are large enough to survive their plunge through the atmosphere, strike the
Earth and become meteorites.

Oh just shut up Kilolani

dumb and proud of it ?

"Lloyd JONES" wrote in message
...
I must admit guys I really didn't think that it were that many shooting
stars hitting our earth every day, im not a scientist at astronomy and
probably don't know as much as you guys but I find it very fascinating.

LJ

If you acknowledge that you are still learning when it comes to astronomy
why did you say
" what a load of rubbish" when you quoted the original comment about 50%
chance of seeing a shooting star?

You know you're not an expert, but you are happy to rubbish someone else's
expert comment

Seems an odd attitude to have.

You don't need to be an expert all you need is a bit of common sense.