10/13/1998 - 2351

Y2k Preview- Leonid Meteor Shower

USA (VNN) - by Papaharini devi dasi

Dear devotees:
Check out the various astronomical sites for further information on theupcoming November 17th, 1998 Leonid Meteor shower. This site was veryhelpful:

http://www.skypub.com/meteors/leonids98_preview.html

This will be the first time in 33 years that the Earth will pass directlythrough the "sandstorm trail" of the comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. Here are acouple of excerpts from one site. While the Leonids shower every year,those showers are the remnant dust storms from the big trail the Earthpasses through every 33 years. So this November will mark the first big"direct hit" where there are satellites in orbit around the planet:

(By Joe Rao and others)
Ready or not, in mid-November 1998 Earth will take a plunge through aninterplanetary river. The river is a river of dust, sparse and thin,composed of sand bits and dust clods separated by miles of vacuum. For afew hours, many of these particles will tear into the Earth's upperatmosphere at a speed of 71 kilometers (44 miles) per second. Each willproduce a momentary streak of light in the sky, a shooting star of theLeonid meteor shower.

How dense the river of meteoroids will be at the place where we will plungethrough it is anyone's guess. The world's space agencies are nervouslyawaiting possible strikes to the more than 500 working satellites thatcurrently orbit Earth. Many satellites, including the Hubble SpaceTelescope, will be carefully rotated to present their least vulnerableprofiles to the potential sandblasting.

On the ground, meanwhile, amateur astronomers are awaiting a possible"meteor storm" with keen anticipation. There is a chance that the sky willblaze with thousands of meteors and fireballs streaming from theconstellation Leo, in an enormous display of silent fireworks like thegreat Leonid storms of history. End of quote.

The reason this is being called a "Y2K preview" is because of telephone,internet, and television access possibly being interrupted for andundetermined amount of time. Ys, Papaharini devi dasi