Latest Activity

November 9

Upcoming Event

Leonid Meteor Shower: Midnight Hike and Camping

Monday, November 17 @ 10pm
until Tuesday, November 18 @ 10am

Departure Location and Destination To Be Announced

Circle Nov. 17 on your calendar, for early that morning a moderate to possibly very strong showing of annual Leonid meteor shower is likely.

The very strong display will favor those living across most of central and eastern Asia. In this region, meteor rates might briefly rise to a few hundred per hour.

A far more modest, but still potentially enjoyable display of a few dozen Leonid meteors per hour is expected to favor North America. In the US and Canada, eastern observers will be particularly well-positioned for maximum activity, expected sometime between 3:30 and 5:30 a.m. EST, when the radiant of the Leonid shower will be well up in the dark southeastern sky.

A meteor shower's radiant is the perspective point from which all the meteors would appear to originate if their paths were traced backward far enough. The higher the radiant is, the more meteors flash into view all over the sky (though meteors can appear anywhere in the sky, so focusing on the radiant is not necessary).

The Leonid radiant is within the so-called "Sickle" of Leo; a backwards question-mark pattern of stars that outlines the head and mane of the constellation Leo, the Lion. Hence the meteors are known as "Leonids."

Not in the East? Don't fret. Observers all across North America may experience a good Leonid show with "shooting stars" streaking across the sky every few minutes.

Also a big plus in 2009 is the lack of any interference from the moon. New moon is on Nov. 16, so skies will be dark for catching the fainter meteor streaks. And the first light of dawn will not break until shortly after 5 a.m. local time.

The Leonids are known to be made up of cosmic litter from a small — 2.2 mile — dusty comet discovered by two astronomers in the late 19th century and christened Tempel-Tuttle. The Leonid meteors are thought to be the dusty legacy of Comet Tempel-Tuttle because the dust is moving around the sun in virtually the same orbit as the comet.

As the Earth encounters the debris left behind by the comet's previous passes through our orbit, these tiny fragments of the comet — typically no bigger than a sand grain or the occasional pea — impact our atmosphere at speeds of up to 45 miles per second, causing them to blaze briefly but brightly in the night sky.

The Leonids are not a one-night stand. The dust from Tempel-Tuttle spangles the sky for a few nights every year in mid-November. This year, the peak is expected during the predawn hours of Nov. 17, but early-morning hours on the dates surrounding Nov. 17 could provide a decent show, too.

Tempel-Tuttle last passed near the sun and Earth more than a decade ago (in 1998) and for several years thereafter the Leonids put on some spectacular displays, producing many hundreds – even thousands of meteors per hour. But with the departed comet now cruising through the outer part of the solar system, we typically would not expect to see more than 8 or 10 Leonids during an hour's watch.

Yet if several meteor scientists are correct, this year will be atypical. The researchers have produced various models of the Leonid stream and all of them are indicating that the Earth will intersect a few "rivers of rubble" left behind by Comet Tempel-Tuttle.

This year, Earth will cross through the 1466 stream again, but this time much closer — 42,000 miles — to the center on Nov. 17 at around 21:40 GMT. This time favors central and eastern Asia (and it comes during daylight in North America). In addition, at about this same time, the Earth will also be passing through dust ejected by the comet in 1533. The consensus forecast among the astronomers for this year suggests anywhere from 130 to perhaps 300 Leonids per hour in Asia, but this spread has been calibrated chiefly using last year's Earth interaction solely with the 1466 stream.

October 27

Past Event The James Hoggan Intervention Thursday, October 30 @ ParkGrounds Coffee 7:30 - 10:30pm 142 Flat Shoals Ave SE, Atlanta, GA 30316

October 24

Past Event - Randall Presents: The Cosmic Origins of Halloween Saturday, October 24 @ ParkGrounds Coffee - 7:30 - 10:30pm 142 Flat Shoals Ave SE, Atlanta, GA 30316

October 2

Past Event - Randall Presents: Lunar Mysteries, Part 2 of 2 Friday, October 2, at ParkGrounds Coffee - 7:30 - 10:00pm 142 Flat Shoals Ave SE, Atlanta, GA 30316

September 25

Past Event - Randall Presents: Lunar Mysteries, Part 1 of 2 Friday, September 25 at ParkGrounds Coffee - 7:30 - 10:00pm 142 Flat Shoals Ave SE, Atlanta, GA 30316

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Please note, SGA does not necessarily endorse the other political views of Glenn Beck.

Interview Date: October 19, 2009

Glenn Beck interviews Lord Monckton on the new Climate Change Treaty and what it means for us. Lord Monckton served as a policy adviser to Margaret Thatcher. He has repeatedly challenged Al Gore to a debate to which Gore has refused.

Monckton sued to stop Gore's film "An Inconvenient Truth" from being shown in British schools due to its inaccuracies. The judge found in-favor of Monckton, ordering 9 serious errors in the film to be corrected.

Lord Monckton travels internationally in an attempt to educate the public about the myth of global warming.

Click here for Part 2 of Interview...

"Given the exceptional arrangement of things
that bore Life on Earth,
we are the seeding ground
for which Life can become galactic,
but we must cross a threshold.

Mankind is Life's latest strategy
to cross this threshold."

---Randall Carlson

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