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November 17, 1998: NASA scientists in Huntsville, Alabama got their first glimpse of the Leonids Monday night and early Tuesday morning, despite a thick blanket of fog across their "observatory." A digital camera, carried aboard a large weather balloon to an altitude of 100,000 feet captured eight spectacular fireballs during a two-hour flight that carried the camera nearly 150 miles, and offered internet viewing of the Leonids shower in real-time. "This was an excellent flight," commented Dr. John Horack, an astronomer at NASA/Marshall, "everything worked great, and we got some excellent video - more than we could have ever seen from the ground, given the weather. It's not very often that the entire planet gets to be 'scientists' and participate in a global science experiment. And, it's very beautiful to look at." The balloon lifted off at 2:28 am CST from the Atmospheric Research Facility on the campus of NASA/Marshall. Climbing at nearly 1,000 feet per minute, the camera offered a birds-eye view: first of the fog-enshrouded Huntsville area, and then the night sky.
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NASA ASTROBIOLOGY TO SHOWER ATTENTION ON LEONIDS - NASA press release Leonids Live! - Links to live webcasts of the Leonid meteor shower Meteor counts - submit your own meteor counts to NASA! 1998 Leonids Data Bank -- a useful summary of Leonids information from NASA Ames. The November Leonids: Will they Roar? -- from JPL Comet Tempel Tuttle image archive -- from NASA Ames Eyewitness accounts of the 1966 storm -- an Ames Research Center Archive Satellite Tracking - monitor satellites as they weather the storm NASA's Office of Space Science - press releases and other news related to NASA and astrophysics |
Related Stories: Great Expectations: the 1998 Leonids Meteor Shower -- the basics of the Leonid meteors. Includes eyewitness accounts from the great 1966 storm and observing hints for 1998. Halley's comet returns in bits and pieces -- story posted Oct 20 on the Orionid meteor shower Tune-up for the Leonids - story posted Oct 7, discusses the astronomy of the Giacobinids External Links: The Leonids -- from Gary Kronk Meteors and Comets web site Leonids: the Night of Raining Fire -- Sky &Telescope article The Leonids: King of the Meteor Showers -- Sky &Telescope article |
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