City based Astronomy club captures Leonids and Sporadic meteor near Tikona fort in Pune
Leonid meteor shower, one of the fastest and brightest meteor showers, which is said to be active in the month of November 6 – 30, was captured in the lens by a city based amateur astronomy group, ‘Khagol Vishwa’ observer, as the earth crossed the orbit of comet Temple – Tuttle on 17 November.
According to the information provided by Mayuresh Prabhune from Khagol Vishwa who was a part of the meteor viewing camp, the Leonids Meteor shower was moving at the speed of 60 km/s. A total of 19 meteors were observed by the three member group around 3:30 – 5:30 am at Javan village near Tikona Fort. The pictures of the meteor shower have been captured in the Nikon D750 18 mm camera.
Leonids are named after Leo group, as the meteors are basically named after the constellation they are originating from. These meteors, since, passing at a very high speed, catch fire due to the temperature beside its space, and hence a line a of fire passing at a high speed is observed from the ground.
The leonids include fireballs. However, the organization has also mentioned that in December, Geminide can be a sight of the month. The sight and observation of the leonide has been submitted by the group to International Meteor Organization.
