[Vansterdam]

New meteor shower to cross Vancouver's skies on Friday night (http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2014/05/new-meteor-shower-vancouver/)

A brand new meteor shower, Camelopardalids, is expected to cross Vancouver’s skies late Friday evening and into Saturday morning and it’s anticipated to be quite a show.

This shower comes courtesy of particles that will burn up in earth’s atmosphere after breaking off from the comet 209P/LINEAR, a relatively small comet discovered only ten years ago that scientists don’t know much about yet.

It could be one of the most spectacular meteor showers Earth has seen over the last several years as the planet will be moving through a cloud of space dust approximately a million kilometres thick.

Camelopardalids is expected to begin on the evening of Friday, May 23 and peak between midnight to 1 a.m. on Saturday, May 24. The shower will originate from the constellation for which it’s named after: Camelopardalids. Located near the north pole of the sky, between the Big Dipper and Cassiopeia.


Astronomers are predicting this to be as stunning a display as the shower’s name is long. Based on the proximity (closer than any Vancouver has had in over thirty years), the larger particle sizes the comet is composed of according to some astronomers studying the comet and the predicted above-average meteor rates (100-400 meteors per hour), it should be a brilliant night.




Tips on getting the most out of your meteor shower experience:
1. Wide open dark skies

It mostly goes without saying, but if you want to truly see the meteors in all their brilliance, try to get away from the city lights which can detract from the meteors. A place like a park or even a secluded backyard with an unobstructed view of the cosmos is better than glancing up at the sky while on Granville.

2. Pay attention

It’s easy to get distracted during showers, particularly when you’re enjoying the night with other people. But the meteors tend to pass very quickly, so keep looking up!

3. Give eyes time to adjust

It takes a few minutes for your eyes to adjust to the dark, so make sure you give yourself that time so your pupils can dilate, let more light in and enjoy the shower fully. If you’re going to be in your backyard for this, try to avoid heading back inside or using bright flashlights.

4. Dress warmly

Even at their peak (hopefully 400!), you’ll probably still be outside waiting for those specks of light for awhile. Even in spring it can get quite cold at night so a sweater and some blankets are probably good ideas.

[willystyle]

Weather will suck in Vancouver tomorrow night.

[DC2aDDicT]

Definitely will be waiting for this. Thanks for the heads up

Btw where is a good place to see this? Im in Surrey/Langley area.

[murd0c]

fuck why can't I be camping this weekend

[murd0c]

Definitely will be waiting for this. Thanks for the heads up

Btw where is a good place to see this? Im in Surrey/Langley area.

Campbell valley park would be a perfect spot

[Inaii]

Thanks for the heads up! I'm headed out to the Valley for the weekend so I'll be crossing my fingers it's not cloudy :)

[320icar]

Cypress upper lot meet tomorrow for meteor shower??

[smoothie.]

Cypress upper lot meet tomorrow for meteor shower??

down.

[320icar]

Do they close off the upper lot at night? The one with the waterfall everyone take pictures at. If not, i think we should make a meet thread for it.

[yray]

down if no clouds

[Vansterdam]

man I hope weather clears up for this!!

wheres everyone planning on going?

Cypress seems like a good bet so far

[Dangerphoto]

Love to check this out!

[murd0c]

By the looks of things it's going to be rainy and cloudy and you won't be able to see shit

[snails]

By the looks of things it's going to be rainy and cloudy and you won't be able to see shit

thanks for nothing!

:okay:

[murd0c]

thanks for nothing!

:okay:

:hotbaby:

[jaguar604]

IT'S CLEARING UP

[multicartual]

What if some of the meteors are really fucking big and hit the planet, how crazy would that be?!?!!?

[kunoman1]

Looks pretty nice right now

[snails]

What if some of the meteors are really fucking big and hit the planet, how crazy would that be?!?!!?

it would save me from my 9-5

:badpokerface:

[i-vtecyo]

I saw a meteor shoot past the sky on Thursday morning. Too bad for us, the weather is gonna suck tonight for Vancouver..

[threezero]

sky looks pretty clear right now. any good place to camp out tonight in new west/ burnaby?

[Vansterdam]

sooo how are things looking?

preety dam nice out right meow

[moldex]

Suggestions for good locations? How's lions bay or porteau cove

[smoothie.]

I plan to be at the general lookout point at cypress around 12.

I'll be on chat when I'm there if I don't see anyone I know

[saucywoman]

I might just hit trout lake if there's no clouds

[StylinRed]

ne1 see anything? haven't spotted jack :/ not even my camera

[murd0c]

In laying in bed not sure if it's worth it to go outside and check it out right now

[Drow]

left cypress viewpoint ~11:30

clouds are bumrushing the sky

[punkwax]

Think I saw one quick flash toward north shore mountains. Anyone know anticipated general direction of where the most action should be?

[320icar]

Nothing yet

[2 n r]

Omg I'm seeing tons of shooting stars up in the south sky go outside and look now!!!

[multicartual]

I fucked my girlfriend and had a beer with the downstairs neighbor


How is it???

[Ikkaku]

nothing... been sitting outside on my balcony looking up into the sky

[Simplex123]

Not sure if trolling... I was watching from 12:45-1:15 and saw nothing lol people on Twitter also report that it was a bust.

[320icar]

we gave up and started drawing penis's in light with my bros camera on long exposure.

[2 n r]

:ilied:

[PinkMuffin]

-___- .....there is nothing..i stood outside my house with my robe on looking like an idiot probably...its too cloudy in van

[multicartual]

http://i.imgur.com/tnWqD5B.jpg

So much pretty shit in the city I don't have time for that nature bitch to do her thing

[multicartual]

-___- .....there is nothing..i stood outside my house with my robe on looking like an idiot probably...its too cloudy in van


Hahaha I pictured so many people stoned in bathrobes on their back porches:


"Did you see any?"
"Nope"
-15 mins later-
"Doritos time?"
"Yes"

[StylinRed]

SPRINGVILLE, Alabama—Did you see the much-anticipated meteor shower this morning?

Probably not. Apparently the meteors did not rain down on the atmosphere.

A new meteor shower, the Camelopardalids, was supposed to peak between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. with 100 to 400 meteors visible an hour. But astronomers warned that the shower might not materialize.

The Earth was expected to pass through the debris field left by a comet about 200 years ago. Experts were not sure if the debris would form into meteors that would burn up in the Earth's atmosphere.

Commenters on a NASA blog from the around the country reported that no meteor shower was seen.

In rural St. Clair County, five meteors were seen between midnight and 1:30 a.m. It is not unusual to see meteors most nights in this area where the sky is not obscured by city lights.

Three cameras were aimed in different directions and set to make continuous 20-second exposures. Only one bright meteor and two faint ones appeared in the pictures. A passing airliner or two was seen in the pictures. Thin cirrus clouds passed over the area.

The next major meteor shower is the Perseids that peak August 12. This event typically is the best meteor shower of the year.

What happened to the meteor shower? | AL.com (http://blog.al.com/wire/2014/05/what_happened_to_the_meteor_sh.html)

Meteor Shower a No-Show, Leaves North Americans Disappointed
May 24, 2014 04:55 AM EDT | Ying Zhin

It was touted as the epic sky event to watch out for, but Saturday's anticipated meteor shower left thousands of North Americans dismayed for not showing up on its scheduled late primetime appearance.

Instead, skywatchers turned to the online universe to "watch" one another's tweets about the meteor shower. By 3:15 a.m. eastern, halfway into the supposed peak hours of the shower, Twitter was raining complaints and sarcastic jabs at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA.

6
"NASA is just like the cable company. Give us a 2-hour window and then leave us hanging," tweeted Michael Collins @GaSportsCraze.

"Can NASA just admit they miscalculated the #meteorshower so we can go to bed and see a neck masseuse?," tweeted Enrique Arana @SpinninDJE.

Others found humor in their own disappointment, and tweeter Sebastian A. offered some tips on how to spot the meteor shower:

"Spin around really fast for 1 minute; fall to the ground face up; see the #meteorshower," he tweeted.

NASA Marshall News had set up a live feed of the sky event on UStream, embedded it on Twitter, and let it remain live until sunrise but decided to wrap up its tweet session as early as 3:00 a.m.

Some, however, reported seeing one to six shooting stars, but not in the hundreds as scientists had projected.

NASA astronomers had announced that around 200 meteors per hour could appear in the pre-dawn sky over North America beginning at 10:30 p.m. Friday until 7:00 a.m Saturday, peaking from 2:00-4:00 a.m.

They said the meteor showers, called Camelopardalids, are dust trails from comet 209P-LINEAR which have accumulated for hundreds of years at a point in space where the Earth was passing through at this time. The comet only orbits the Earth every five years.

Scientists said tonight could be the first and last opportunity to see the "spectacular stream" because the comet that sheds off the dust trails could have its orbit altered by the gravitational pull of the largest planet, Jupiter.

NASA's own excitement about the May 2014 meteor shower rubbed off on thousands of North Americans who had looked forward to kicking off their Memorial Day weekend celebrations by going stargazing.

©2014 Chinatopix All rights reserved.

Meteor Shower a No-Show, Leaves North Americans Disappointed : Society : ChinaTopix.com (http://www.chinatopix.com/articles/2600/20140524/meteor-shower-no-show-leaves-north-americans-disappointed.htm)

[i-vtecyo]

knowing that it was cloudy tonight, i didnt even bother to look up into the sky. they claim that its 100-400 meteors per hour but i believe thats BS. Perseid meteor shower in august is the only one worth the neck pain imo. Last year they claimed 80 meteors per hour but it was more like 20 per h, nevertheless the view was still spectacular because for 3 nights straight, it lasted until sunrise and also the fact that its reliable.

[Brianrietta]

My mother is a pretty serious hobby astronomer so around meteor shower seasons I never miss an opportunity to spend some family time out in the dark. We just got back from about 10 minutes out of Hope where I set us up in the darkest place I could think of with a full northern view. From 11:45 to 2:15 we only counted 18 meteors and 9 visible satellites overhead and unrelated to the shower on the way back saw a pretty decent sized deer on the side of the highway. The majority of the meteors were faint enough that I wouldn't be surprised if closer around the GVRD only 5 of those would have been visible with the higher light pollution. Out of the 18, really, only 2 were in any way impressive (and I mean that in relation to the other shitty 16, they were really nothing special - one very long streak and one short but brilliant quick-moving one). At the beginning of the night almost all the meteors we spotted were right in between Ursa Major and Cassiopeia as expected although as the night went on they seemed to radiate less from one spot and be more random mostly up above Draco. Overall a pretty disappointing night, obviously much more than baseline one or two meteors or so an hour that we'd normally get in a place that dark but paled in comparison both numerically and aesthetically to the Perseids or the Leonids.

[Xu.Vi]

^ That's 18 more than I saw :okay:

[Brianrietta]

^ That's 18 more than I saw :okay:

The trick to meteor showers as I see it is threefold:

A- Get the fuck out of the city. Like, as far as possible. With the mountains around Vancouver getting elevation is good, but distance helps dramatically as well. I've taken trips upcountry before for the Perseids and once spent a frigid couple of days in November in northern Ontario for the Leonids.

B- Set aside enough time to be able to devote an hour or more to watching the meteor shower, which brings me to C:

C- Wait. Wait more. During the supposed peak of the Perseids I've sat outside for 15 minutes and seen nothing before, only to all of a sudden see a dozen in the next 5. During the Lyrids I've spent what was probably 90 minutes out before seeing my first of the night, but holy shit was it a fireball worth waiting for.

Pretty much just set the time aside, get as far out into the dark as you can, avoiding foggy places or near the sea where you get more moisture in the air, and then just wait. Very few people I know are willing to put in the time (and with sometimes crazy expectations that don't pan out like tonight, I can't really blame them).

[Vansterdam]

Went outside at 12, noticed it was kinda cloudy so went back inside lol

[Matlock]

Went to Abbotsford's McDonald park at about 1:30 am and saw one meteor.

[flagella]

Went to Abbotsford's McDonald park at about 1:30 am and saw one meteor.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2Q7xJjLCY1w/UQI-8G5hmGI/AAAAAAAAG3Y/RuSGUsmieWI/s400/memWin.png

[Pegacorn]

Saw two meteors in a 15 minute span, from East Van around midnight. Too tired to stick around and wait for more.

[Alkrus]

Didn't see a meteor between 1-3 am at Queen Elizabeth park. Way too cloudy in vancouver

[saucywoman]

It was super clear from trout lake at 1230 but saw nothing so gave up

[scENFORCER]

Guess this isint supposed to be happening tonight eh? I'm actually working out in Chilliwack tonight and have an opportunity to watch the sky away from the city.