When is the Leonid peak ?

When is the Leonid peak this year ?
I have seen several different dates.

Thank you

I certainly could be wrong, but I thought it was always the 17th.

Craig wrote:
When is the Leonid peak this year ?
I have seen several different dates.

Thank you


Leonids (LEO) November 13-20 2005 Nov. 17 @ 13:17 UT
Ref: http://comets.amsmeteors.org/meteors..._radiants.html

"Craig" wrote in message
ups.com...
When is the Leonid peak this year ?

Unfortunately, during full moon week this year.

Craig wrote:
When is the Leonid peak this year ?
I have seen several different dates.

It has probably already passed earlier today (for North America). The
radiant is at RA 153 deg or RA 10h12m00 and the peak occurs on the
17th.
http://www.imo.net/calendar/2005/remarks

The precise time computations are not being reported because the full
Moon is washing the sky out at night and for North America the peak
occurs during the daytime.

In lieu of a precise time computation, you can lookup your local
sidereal time at the USNO LST webapp:
http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/sidereal.html

and estimate the rising time of the radiant, which for the U.S. is
about 2:00am local time last night and tonight.

For example, in the western Intermountain U.S. (where it is LST 16:46
and 20:23 UTC as I write this), the peak radiant occured about 6 hours
ago for my observing point, or during the daytime.

Using the basic relationship of HA = LST - R.A. or 16:46LST - 10:12RA,
the current local hour angle is 6 hours - or Orion is just setting.

With some estimation of the numbers of hours till the next rising of
Orion, you can guesstimate when it's next rising will be at your
location. For example, Orion is just setting at my op and it will rise
in another 12 hours. RA10h rises at about 8:00 UTC (2:00am local time)
at my observing point.

You can however, follow-along during the daytime (or on a Moonlight
night) with radio meteor observing. The "Radio Meteor Observatory's On
Line" site shows the
http://radio.data.free.fr/main.php3

For example, a western Canadian radio observer posted a nice bell curve
showing the peak transiting his daytime location.

I have had less luck listening along with the NASA Internet Radio
Meteor Station at Roswell New Mexico:
http://science.nasa.gov/audio/meteor/navspasur.m3u

Even if you cannot see the Leonids this year at night because of the
near full moon, I invite you to try basic radio meteor observing using
an FM radio. (This is the radio observing level that I am personally
at.)

Tune to a distant over the horizon FM station 500 to 1000km distant.
The frequency you select should be a distant station with no
corresponding local FM station. The station you tune to provides the
direction of the signal.

Listen on the distant station frequency. When a meteor strikes the
atmosphere, it reflects the over-the-horizon signal and the station is
briefly heard.
See illustration at http://radio.meteor.free.fr/us/main.html

For the United States, there is an FCC site that can be used to find
the location and frequency of distant stations by U.S. cities.
http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/fmq.html

Enjoy - Canopus56

Opps. Should have said "Leo" where I said "Orion" in the prior post.