Any astronomers out there? (shooting, watch, reading, Maine)

[dano04631]

Over the last two nights I've seen at least half a dozen meteorites in the northern sky here (outside of Reading PA), including one that looked like it was gonna land in the woods behind my house. I don't think I've seen that many over my entire life. Is there some kind of meteor shower going on now, or have I just been getting lucky?

[swagger]

Here's a list -

NAMN Guide: Appendix A - List of Meteor Showers

My first thought was the Perseids, due to the radiant being in the northern sky. Date's wrong, though.

Probably just random dust. You'd be surprised how many shooting stars you can see if you have relatively dark skies and you spend any time looking at them.

[dano04631]

Thanks - I guess clear skies, no moon, and the dog doing his business got me looking up.

[aurorawatcher]

The Taurids are going on at the moment and we have the Leonids happening which will peak Nov 17th but will be washed out by the moon. Only the brighter ones will show.

[cb at sea]

You do know that a bunch of "space junk" was scheduled to re-enter the atmosphere...maybe you saw some of that!

[aurorawatcher]

[SIZE=3]TAURID METEORS: [/SIZE]The annual Taurid meteor shower is underway and it could be a good show. 2008 is a "swarm year" for the Taurids: Between Nov. 5th and 12th, Earth is due to pass through a swarm of gritty debris from parent comet 2P/Encke. When the same thing happened in 2005, sky watchers observed a slow drizzle of midnight fireballs for nearly two weeks.


Here are your meteors.

[Maine Writer]

This chart showing showers, dates, intensity and more might be helpful to some.