Leonid meteor shower brings out students

Ask any crew member and they'll tell you what waking up at 5:00 a.m. is like. The alarm rings and you start to cringe. It's dark, cold and going back to bed is the only thing you can think of. But Tuesday's Leonid meteor shower displayed some of the best skyborne theatrics the earth will see in the next 96 years.

Every year, the meteor shower occurs when the earth passes through the trail of dust left in the wake of the comet Tempel-Tuttle. The comet completely orbits the sun once every 33 years. The tiny dust particles from the comet's tail travel at 158,000 mph and vaporize as they heat up in the upper atmosphere. The dust boils off the comet each time it passes close to the sun. The earth intersects the debris trails each year in mid-November.

This year, Earth crossed two unusually dense trails, left in 1767 and 1866. The result was two peaks of meteors during the night, one over Europe and one over North America. Both trails were made up of high concentrations of dust, which made for a more intense shower than usual. The earth is not expected to hit another stream of similar density from the comet until 2098 or 2031.

The Leonids are named for the constellation Leo from which the meteors appear to arrive. Hopkins students were able to see the meteors from all over the campus just by looking northeast.

Nearly a hundred students gathered on the beach to watch the meteor shower, undeterred by Baltimore's bright city lights and pollution. "I saw a lot considering how bright it was," said sophomore Margaret Neff. "I was a little disappointed that I couldn't have been somewhere further away from the city, like the clear skies of Canada."

Others, like Katie Knight traveled as far down as Virginia to catch the shower. "I slept through my alarm and woke up at 4:15, but got to a place that was far enough away from pollution," said Knight. "We saw the tail end and the sunrise. It was beautiful and definitely worth almost no sleep."

For those who chose to stay on campus, even a bright full moon did not ruin the light show. Once about every 11 seconds, a flash of white light would streak across the sky. Students ooh-ed and aah-ed at the sight of shooting stars, some lasting as long as three seconds.

"I was amazed by the visibility of the shower through Baltimore's many layers of pollution," said sophomore Vinay Shankar. "People said there was a storm moving in, but the skies were clear in the morning, and you could really see a lot.

The sights were considerably better than last year's poor showing. "This year was way better," said Knight. "I watched it on the Beach last year in the hazy orange skies and you couldn't see anything."

On the whole, students agreed that the shower was definitely worth the early hour and cold weather. "I enjoy getting outside of Baltimore and actually seeing the celestial heavens," said Knight. "It's always a great night when you can reacquaint yourself with the stars."

"I had no idea what to expect," said Shankar. "I was very impressed with the show though. You wouldn't even need big glasses to see them."