IPR: The news is heating up about Comet ISON. Why is ISON important?
MARY: Comet ISON is brightening in the pre-dawn eastern sky for telescope and binocular viewers and it’s moving extremely fast as it heads toward its solar rendezvous on the 28th of November. Soon it will become increasingly difficult to observe because it’s approaching twilight skies. By far the best opportunity for naked-eye viewing of the comet (if it reaches and survives perihelion) will be in early-to-mid December as it climbs back into the night skies. Special dates of interest are November 17th and 18th when the comet will pass by the bright star Spica.
IPR: This is also the time of the Leonid Meteor Shower. What’s the prediction for the shower this year?
MARY: The Leonids peek overnight Monday to Tuesday, November 18th to 19th, so just as ISON is passing Spica, the star of abundance, the meteor shower will be accompanied by Sunday’s Full Moon so the moonlight is expected to diminish their showing. Still, the Leonids are often prolific, producing fast-moving meteors that approach the Earth head-on. They’re usually very bright and they leave persistent trains which is an awesome site.
IPR: Do you have a story of the Leonids that you’d like to share?
MARY: The kind of story I like best to associate with the Leonids has to do with the "hidden king" theme. I find this relative to the Leonids because it is a shower that is caused by the Comet Temple-Tuttle but gets its name from the constellation of the Great Lion, Leo. The star Regulus, at the heart of the constellation Leo, is a name that means the "little one" or "the hidden king." This is because Regulus is the dimmest of the first magnitude stars that appears along the path of Sun, Moon and planets. But each year in August, Regulus is host to an auspicious guest, the Sun, which appears to sweep over this star around the 22nd day of the month. This is where the story enters in, because it is as though Regulus, perhaps dim or hidden, is bolstered by the Sun’s visit, and then later in the year, here in November, it becomes host to a fascinating meteor shower. This is like the story of Iron Hans from the Brother’s Grimm. A wild man has been discovered in the forest, and he is caged until the King’s son loses his ball in the cage; it has bounced in there and the wild man won’t give it back unless the boy frees him. This is a rite of passage tale and eventually the boy heads off into the world with the wild man. He is given the task of guarding a sacred pool but he keeps dropping things into it and everything that drops into the pool turns to gold including, eventually, his own hair. At this point the wild man turns him away and he is sent into the world to make his way. He takes a job as a gardener’s helper but hides his hair lest his true identity be revealed.
So this is the situation we find ourselves in from August to November when something that is hidden or overlooked gets revealed. And here we have the Comet ISON nearing the star of abundance, the Full Moon, and the shooting stars of the Leonids, near the bright star Regulus at the heart of the Lion; all bold celestial gestures.