Happiness Is a Speedy Leonid

 

This bright Leonid meteor flared low in the northern sky below the Big Dipper at the start of dawn. Bob King

Maybe you felt the way I did when you got up at 4 a.m. to watch the Leonid meteor shower. The temperature was 14° F with a hearty wind. I donned all my warm weather gear, unlocked the door and snapped open a lawn lounger. As I eased back into the chair, the dotted outline of Leo the lion assumed a commanding position in the southeastern sky like Simba on the hilltop in the movie The Lion King.

Venus shines inside the tilted cone of zodiacal light, a phenomenon caused by sunlight that scatters off comet dust in the plane of the solar system. The meteor at top is a bright non-Leonid called a sporadic. Sporadic meteors are seen every night. Light-pollution-illuminated clouds are visible at right.  Bob King

Looking at the meteor-less sky I couldn't help but think "naw, this ain't gonna' happen." But not 10 minutes later a modest but spectacularly fast meteor shot straight out of the lion's mouth. Whoa! I huddled myself in the chair and waited, and by the time 45 minutes had flown by I counted nine more. Several Leonids were as bright as Mars or Jupiter and left glowing trains of ionized air in their wakes. Two made me shout out loud. 

High clouds fuzz up Venus and Spica which were in conjunction about 4° apart Tuesday morning (Nov. 17). At bottom, Mercury pops his head over ridge in brightening twilight. Bob King

All were so fast that you either saw them or didn't. Simple as that. At the end of my vigil, I got in the car to drive to a more open location to track down a telescopic comet at the start of morning twilight and photograph the zodiacal light, a tall finger of glowing comet dust that stands up from the eastern horizon near the start of dawn on fall mornings. 

The 2-day-old crescent shines above the American flag Monday evening (Nov. 16) during twilight. Bob King

Despite being subjected to the full force of the wind I couldn't have cared less. Having watched flaming flakes of Comet 55P/Temple-Tuttle (the "parent" comet of the Leonid shower) for an hour, joy made me invincible. Venus and Spica made a fine sight in the eastern sky in the growing light even as approaching clouds slowly soaked up the stars. Before leaving to return to bed I waited for Mercury to top the distant tree line like the last runner in a marathon. 

Sometimes happiness seems so easily attainable. I hope you had a good morning with the Leonids, too.

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