Meteors to put on a light show

By Jennifer Langston

Herald Writer

A good Leonid meteor storm can make you think the universe is coming unglued.

With thousands of shooting stars streaking across the sky per hour, past storms have unnerved people with thoughts of UFOs, falling fireballs and the end of the world.

If skies remain clear tonight, astronomers are predicting Northwesterners will have the chance of a lifetime to see a spectacular Leonid meteor shower.

"It’s one of the most fantastic natural phenomena you can imagine," said Don Brownlee, astronomy professor and meteor expert at the University of Washington. "If it happens, it’s something people should definitely not miss."

The Leonid meteors peak every year around Nov. 18 as the Earth plows through cosmic debris left behind by Comet Tempel-Tuttle.

This year, astronomers say viewing in Snohomish County could be better than in any year since a spectacular storm in 1966. The last few years, it’s either been cloudy or the wrong time of day in the Northwest to view the storms.

After next year, the Earth isn’t expected to cross paths with the comet’s thick wake again for decades.

For a few years during the comet’s 33-year orbit, the Earth moves through unusually dense clumps of debris that the comet sheds as it nears the sun. The shooting stars are actually particles of ice and dust not much bigger than rice grains. They appear as streaks in the sky when they vaporize in Earth’s atmosphere.

During previous Leonid storms, people have seen luminescent trails that hang in the sky for half an hour, Brownlee said. Even when the weather has been bad, people have reported lights glowing above the clouds that look like bombs going off.

One of the meteor storms is predicted to hit while Western Washington skies are dark — around 2 a.m. Sunday. Astronomers say you should be able to see several hundred to 2,000 shooting stars an hour.

The best place to watch the meteor shower is somewhere out in the open and away from lights.

UW astronomy graduate student Andrew West said he’s had good luck driving to the eastern side of the Cascades and pulling off on a logging road.

But the National Weather Service is predicting cloudless skies across Washington tonight, even on the rainy side of the state.

"If it’s a spectacular shower … a lot of these you should actually be able to see from the city," West said. "Some people say it actually looks like it might be clear, but I don’t trust anyone in the Northwest to predict the weather on Friday for Sunday."

You can call Herald Writer Jennifer Langston at 425-339-3452

or send e-mail to langston@heraldnet.com.

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