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Wee Weasley Welshman
15th Dec 2003, 07:14
I must have seen well over a hundred meteorites tonight between about 10pm and midnight. Mostly white but quite a few excellent greens.

Was this an expected storm does anyone know?

Cheers

WWW

fueldump
15th Dec 2003, 07:30
yep i saw them to. Fab certainly helped wind the miles down thats for sure. Hope you made a wish lol

Scottie
15th Dec 2003, 16:10
WWW and Fuel Dump,

It was the Geminids meteor shower. I forgot about it :{

tony draper
15th Dec 2003, 16:24
One hates to be pedantic here but they were meteors, they don't become meteorites until they hit the deck, which thankfully they rarely do.
Been stood outside freezing me thingies off for the last forty years, watching our for every meteor shower there ever was,so far norra sausage, they always seem to wait until Drapes gives up and heads indoors to thaw out , then the bastards fill the sky.
:*

Wee Weasley Welshman
15th Dec 2003, 18:24
Well I have never seen anything like it. Really really interesting - certainly helped pass a Malaga - Bristol with 70kt headwind. At one point there were about 20 within 10 seconds. Will go an research a bit more about Geminids - thanks.

Cheers

WWW

Wycombe
15th Dec 2003, 20:03
....saw one really bright one out of my upstairs window (W Berks) at about 2330 last night. Was in the Southern sky from my position

fueldump
15th Dec 2003, 20:40
WWW you should have tried SSH-MAN with a 60kt headwind:ugh:

whitejet
15th Dec 2003, 20:56
Guys,
They were a spectacle.
We saw hundreds on the way from Brussels to Malta.

LastCall
16th Dec 2003, 02:47
Left LHR last night at 9 p:m and crossed the North Atlantic westbound at up to 63 North. Between 30 & 50 West the Northern Lights were the best & brightest I've ever seen. Above & on both sides of the airplane, continually moving and with lots of color changes. We counted dozens of meteors (shooting stars) all night.

What a show! Awe inspiring!

icemanalgeria
16th Dec 2003, 03:12
We had a 15 hour delay for our 13 hour flight to Buenos Aires but the night sky helped pass the time.

I was told that this happens on the 15th Aug and 15th Dec (not the 15 hour delay).

MANTHRUST
16th Dec 2003, 04:29
Saw father christmas the northern lights and said meteor shower on the way home from Lapland. much more impressive than previous ,much heralded,meteor showers.
Sat at the back window with the wife, just to share the experience, when I got home.
Of course if she had been able to come on the jump seat for the day.............

eastern wiseguy
16th Dec 2003, 04:38
they don't become meteorites until they hit the deck, which thankfully they rarely do.

I was listening to Radio 4 this morning(15th Dec 2003 0905) and they had a female scientist on..she described herself as a meteorist..she will be giving the annual Christmas Lectures....anyhoo she said that the earth gets pelted with these things to the extent of something in the order of 10 per kilometre squared...although most are fine dust by the time they get down..so in fact(she said) we have a very good chance of being clobbered by a meteorite on a regular basis albeit a tiny dusty one:ok:

Scottie
16th Dec 2003, 17:47
www.meteorscatter.net Bounce VHF signals off ionised trails from the meteors :ok:

Keeps me off the streets :}

teeteringhead
18th Dec 2003, 00:17
And you can find your own - but only small ones. I vaguely remember doing something with rainwater butts and magnets when a kid to get micrometeorite debris - so I Googled and found this! (http://www.star.ucl.ac.uk/~idh/solar/eng/edu/micromet.htm) And it really does work.