Tips for catching the Leonid meteor shower on LI
Be sure to read up on tips for catching the Leonid meteor shower on Long Island. Credit: AP / Dave Martin
When the Leonid meteor shower peaks overnight Sunday and Monday, Shannon Bohman, 17, of Sayville hopes to be watching for the pinpoints of light that streak across the sky in a celestial show. "It's like when you drag a pencil across paper really quickly. That little trail," she says.
"My dad and I, we usually go outside when we know there's going to be a meteor shower," Bohman says. "If they're really good meteor showers, you'll see around 15 an hour. You have to be patient because you probably won't see anything within the first five minutes."
But if you lie on the ground and gaze at the heavens, you will be rewarded, says the Sayville High School senior, who is planning to study the physics of outer space in college.
"Right before sunrise is really ideal. If you could wake up super early, that usually works. It's amazing."
Dad Ken Bohman, who happens to be an earth science teacher in the Rockville Centre school district, agrees: "When you see it, it's definitely a thrill. Every once in a while, you get a really bright one. It's like nature's fireworks."
Family fun
Most people call meteor showers "shooting stars," but they aren't. The showers appear when the Earth's orbit passes through debris left by a comet, and that debris is burned up by the atmosphere. "Comets leave that dust trail in their orbit. It's little bits of space dust about the size of a grain of sand," says Linda Davis, a science teacher at Sayville Middle School, which has its own planetarium.
Several meteor showers occur annually, usually named for the closest constellation from which the shower appears to emanate. The Leonid emanates from the direction of the constellation Leo, for instance, but the debris is from the comet Tempel-Tuttle.
"You'll see it once a year, that's when our orbit takes us through that particle dust," Davis says. Meteor showers usually take place during the course of a week or so, but there's usually one or two nights when it's the brightest.
Those are the nights when the family can best explore the experience together. "I would set my alarm for 2:30 in the morning on Nov. 18 and get up and take a look," Davis says. "Set out your lawn chairs the night before. Grab a couple of flashlights and a couple of sleeping bags. You don't need a telescope, you don't need binoculars. Your eyes are the best things to use to see a meteor shower."
More advice
Some families head to the beach to watch meteor showers, because finding the darkest possible spot means less interference from light pollution. Emma Wills-Umdenstock, 13, of South Hempstead and her mom, Elana Wills, have gone to parking lots at Jones Beach to watch previous meteor showers. "We got there around 9 or 10 p.m., and we were there until 2 a.m.," Emma says. "By then, I was falling asleep."
Dressing warmly is a good idea. And parents may want to abort the mission if the night is cloudy or rainy, or the moon is too full. Kids younger than 12 may not have the patience to persevere. "Kids tend to say, 'This is boring, let's go,'" Bohman says.
But if they are really into astronomy, or are older than 12, they will likely appreciate the experience, says Brian Daleo, a science teacher who leads the Sayville Astronomical Society, a school club for middle and high school students. "It's worth getting your kid out of bed," he says.
Seeing the meteor shower might be inspirational, says Ryan Huisman, 14, a Sayville ninth-grader and club member who wants a career in astronomy: "That might spark another kid who might want to be an astronomer when he grows up."
Beth Whitehouse writes about families, parenting and great things to do with the kids on Long Island. She’s been a Newsday editor and shared a 1997 Newsday staff Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800.
