Last minute clouds marred its peak period

A10

Charles Perry

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The annual Leonid meteor shower reached its peak activity for star gazers in southeastern New Brunswick in the pre-dawn hours of Tuesday morning.

The skies were pretty clear about midnight and Daniel LeBlanc, president of the Beauséjour Astronomy Club, was looking forward to viewing what scientists predicted would be one of the more spectacular years for the Leonids.

But about 4 to 4:30 a.m., it clouded over, said LeBlanc. It is too bad, he said, considering it was being heralded as the best Leonid meteor shower in 10 years.

But the cosmic light show will continue through Saturday, permitting dedicated sky watchers and others a chance to catch a glimpse of the shower.

LeBlanc said if the skies are clear, you might still be able to see meteors fall about every five minutes or so. He said Leo would be rising about 11 a.m. in the eastern sky.

However, some years during its peak, the Leonid shower will feature up to 1,000 meteors an hour falling, he said. About 10 years ago, he got to witness one of the most spectacular of the Leonid meteor showers during its peak period.

"It was the most amazing meteor shower I saw in my life; it was fantastic."

LeBlanc said it gets its name Leonid because the showers appear to be coming from the constellation. On this occasion, since the constellation was so low in the sky at the time, he said the showers seemed to be darting out from the horizon.

"If you didn't know they were meteors, you would think they were scud missiles," said the astronomy club president.

"They were so plentiful that we were counting hundreds and thousands of them an hour.

"And they were all different colours -- greens, oranges and yellows. Some broke in two and the smoke trail from the meteor would stay there for several minutes.

"It was an amazing display," said LeBlanc.

The Leonids are associated with the comet Tempel-Tuttle which was discovered independently by Ernst Tempel in 1865 and again in 1866 by Horace Parnell Tuttle. The comet intersects with Earth about every 33 years, and in doing so, leaves a dense trail of debris that seems to emerge from the constellation Leo.

Anyone wanting to see the Leonid meteor showers over their remaining two or three days should travel away from the cities and towns to view them, said LeBlanc. Meteor showers, like the other sights in the heavens, are best observed in dark skies, away from the light pollution.

For those who missed seeing the Leonid meteor shower at its peak this year, he said there is another very under-rated and even more dependent cosmic light show coming in a few weeks time.

"Stay tuned for the Gemini meteor shower," said LeBlanc. It is always an exciting spectacle, he said.

* Charles Perry's Weather appears daily.