The sky is falling down!

Last night, tonight and tomorrow night from different parts of the world it will be possible to view the Leonids meteor shower! I’ve been reading up about it for the last couple of weeks and I’m hoping I know enough to be able to locate it in the sky.

A couple of my friends and I are going out to Landsborough this afternoon to Jeremy’s house. I can’t wait :) There will be friends, horse-riding, surfing, playing music, community art and star-gazing. Bliss :)

I found this website that documented a travelling preachers account of ‘The Great Leonid Meteor Storm of 1883’. It’s fascinating. This is only a small excerpt:

First-hand account of 1833 Meteor Shower
by Elder Samuel Rogers

After this little altercation, some one went to the door for the purpose of settling the question. Fortunately, there was not a cloud in the heavens; so by a glance, all was settled. I heard one of the children cry out, in a voice expressive of alarm: “Come to the door, father, the world is surely coming to an end.” Another exclaimed: “See! The whole heavens are on fire! All the stars are falling!” These cries brought us all into the open yard, to gaze upon the grandest and most beautiful scene my eyes have ever beheld. It did appear as if every star had left its moorings, and was drifting rapidly in a westerly direction, leaving behind a track of light which remained visible for several seconds.

Some of those wandering stars seemed as large as the full moon, or nearly so, and in some cases they appeared to dash at a rapid rate across the general course of the main body of meteors, leaving in their track a bluish light, which gathered into a thin cloud not unlike a puff of smoke from a tobacco-pipe. Some of the meteors were so bright that they were visible for some time after day had fairly dawned. Imagine large snowflakes drifting over your head, so near you that you can distinguish them, one from the other, and yet so thick in the air as to almost obscure the sky; then imagine each snowflake to be a meteor, leaving behind it a tail like a little comet; these meteors of all sizes, from that of a drop of water to that of a great star, having the size of the full moon in appearance: and you may then have some faint idea of this wonderful scene.

The full article is here:

http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast22jun99%5F2.htm