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(20 November 2001) Did you get to see the meteor shower? I didn't. I was desperately reviewing for my midterms, and was completely unaware of what was going on with the outside world, least of all the air up there. Now I wish to strangle myself, for I had just missed a most spectacular display of the wonders of the night sky. Fortunately, my sister got to see it all. She's an astronomy enthusiast and former education and research coordinator of the University of the Philippines Astronomical Society. For those of us who missed the celestial showcase, let us move to another planet. (Note: The unedited version of this essay was origninally sent as an email to a mailing list on 19 November 2001.)
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Meteor Storm
by Sharon Fangonon
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Aaaargh! Did you all miss the Leonids? You know how many I counted? Four hundred nine meteors. I repeat, 409 meteors! Man, I tell you, it was the experience of a lifetime. And to think the sky was cloudy a lot of the time. The cloud cover ranged from 80-30% during my observation period which was from 1 am to 5 am. We experienced two peaks: one at around 2 am and another at around 4 am. At those times we would see meteors showing up one after the other and pretty often two or three would show up at the same time, but with my bad vision I usually miss one or two of those. The zenital hourly rate, which is the theoretical number of meteors you would see if the radiant (the point where the meteors seem to originate, in this case somewhere around the constellation of Leo) was at the zenith (the highest point in the sky, the one above your head) and there was no cloud cover, was computed to be around 1600 meteors during the 2 am peak and 750 during the 4 am peak.
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This experience certainly made up for the very disappointing and
hyped Leonids in the last two years when we kept on expecting a storm. And
now it has happened (for us in the Philippines) at last!
As I said, I have bad vision. I missed a lot of meteors at the periphery and my eyesight could not encompass most of the sky partly due to my glasses and also because I couldn't catch the faint meteors. Our best counter whose range of vision resembled a fish-eye lens counted 864 meteors. I don't really envy her. Seeing 409 was good enough for me-- and there were so many bright ones, called fireballs or bolides, that left long trails. One that appeared near the horizon even lighted up the thick cloud where it went behind.
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My beautiful sister Sharon.
Click here for framing variations.
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I really praise God for that experience. It was extremely exhilirating. I hope those of you interested will have something like it, too. I met a fellow Astrosoc member (who missed the fireworks) the next day and told her about the marvelous display and she was ready to cry. Even said she wished I hadn't told her about it. Poor girl, I know exactly how I would have felt if I had missed it. What could I say to comfort her except that I hope she'll experience it, too, someday? However, according to the experts, we can't expect any more meteor storms in the next 50 years... my friend may still have good vision in her late 60s but I'll probably be blind by then. But at least I'll always have this experience to treasure. So next time you hear of some event you wouldn't want to miss, don't let it pass you by! Especially if there's any chance it may never happen again in your lifetime.
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Here are a few lyrics from one of my favorite songs :
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"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth His
handywork.
Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard."
Psalms 19:1-3 KJV
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About the Author
Sharon is my pretty and intelligent older sister. A true blue bookworm, sci-fi and fantasy freak, molecular biology major, classical music lover, homebody and the world's best cook. (Her salads and pasta dishes are to die for.) Yes, she's single, and if you men out there want to get in touch with her, you'll have to meet my strict standards first, among which include (1) the willingness to put up with her ocassional long silences due to reading binges; (2) the willingness to put up with her two eccentric younger siblings.
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