The Leonid Meteor Storm - History
In this mini-series titled, Rarest Sky Events", I will show the top 10 of the rarest and most amazing astronomical events ever to occur. Today is part 1 of this mini-series on the Mazzaroth. It probably goes without saying that when an event listed among these top ten sky events occurs it is a sight that is quite spectacular! But it is of even greater spiritual significance. Thus, as good spiritual "watchmen" (Ezekiel 3:17), we should know these events, and when next to expect them.
The Leonid Meteor Storm is listed among the top 10 of the rarest and most amazing astronomical events. And of all the top ten rarest sky events, this one is the most personally significant, as I grew up with the stories of it. For this reason, I will start off with the spectacular Leonid Meteor Storm - which is much more than a mere meteor shower.
The Leonid Meteor Storm of November 13, 1833 is historically significant, to say the least. And it was this meteor storm that impacted my childhood memories as I grew up in the Seventh-day Adventist church. The early SDA founders, who witnessed this storm, believed it marked the end of the world. And SDA founders were not the only ones who believed this Storm was a sign of the End. Mormon leader Joseph Smith noted in his journal that this meteor storm was a sure sign of Christ's soon return.
In fact, the Leonid Meteor Storm of 1833 sparked the belief that the world would end on the Day of Atonement, which Adventist founders believed would be on October 22, 1844. Of course, the world did not end then, as we all know. And the Great Disappointment in the SDA church was the result.
But one thing was certainly true, the formation of the SDA church was hugely impacted by the Leonid Meteor Storm of 1833. They may have misinterpreted its meaning then, but they didn't underestimate its spiritual significance. So, let's take a look at the spectacular Leonid Meteor Storm of 1833... and beyond.
This is what Wikipedia had to say about the Leonid Meteor Storm:
The New York Evening Post ran a series of articles on it with sightings reported from Canada to Jamaica. Although the Leonid Meteor Storm of 1833 only appeared in North America, it was talked about in Europe. And truly had a lasting world-wide impact, that was talked about for years after the fact. For example years later, Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States commented on the Leonid Meteor Storm of 1833. (Donald Olson; Laurie Jasinski, November 1999, "Abe Lincoln and the Leonids", Sky and Telescope 34-5)
There have been repeats of the Leonid falling stars, but not as spectacular as 1833. In 1866, a Leonid Meteor Storm again occured, but this time it was seen in Europe also. While it was not of the magnitude of 1833, viewers counted hundreds of meteors per minute with a few thousand per hour. And it was from the 1866 storm that scientists pinpointed the Comet Tempel-Tuttle as the source of the meteor storm, as it passed in the northern portion of the constellation now called Leo (Aryeh) - hence the name Leo-nid Meteor Shower.
The next strong occurrence of the Leonids was in 1868, where the shower again reached a magnitude of 1000 per hour. Then again in 1999, 2000, and 2001 the Leonid meteor shower again reached "storm" level with 3000 meteors per hour falling in the sky, which is still not up to the amazing level witnessed in 1833.
It should be noted that a Leonid meteor shower occurs in November every year and peaks on November 17. Typically the number of meteors witnessed ranges from 20-30 per hour, which is still notable among yearly meteor showers. But the amazing Leonid meteor storm-level shower is quite rare and most spectacular of all.
More on it in tomorrow's blog...
In this mini-series titled, Rarest Sky Events", I will show the top 10 of the rarest and most amazing astronomical events ever to occur. Today is part 1 of this mini-series on the Mazzaroth. It probably goes without saying that when an event listed among these top ten sky events occurs it is a sight that is quite spectacular! But it is of even greater spiritual significance. Thus, as good spiritual "watchmen" (Ezekiel 3:17), we should know these events, and when next to expect them.
The Leonid Meteor Storm is listed among the top 10 of the rarest and most amazing astronomical events. And of all the top ten rarest sky events, this one is the most personally significant, as I grew up with the stories of it. For this reason, I will start off with the spectacular Leonid Meteor Storm - which is much more than a mere meteor shower.
The Leonid Meteor Storm of November 13, 1833 is historically significant, to say the least. And it was this meteor storm that impacted my childhood memories as I grew up in the Seventh-day Adventist church. The early SDA founders, who witnessed this storm, believed it marked the end of the world. And SDA founders were not the only ones who believed this Storm was a sign of the End. Mormon leader Joseph Smith noted in his journal that this meteor storm was a sure sign of Christ's soon return.
People who witnessed the astonishing display across NorthAmerica spoke of it even decades later with eyes wide and a quiver in the voice.
“It seemed as if the whole starry heavens had congregated at one point near the zenith and were simultaneously shooting forth, with the velocity of lightning, to every part of the horizon, and yet they were not exhausted—thousands swiftly followed in the track of thousands, as ifcreated for the occasion,” testified an onlooker.
“Never did rain fall much thicker than the meteors fell toward the earth; east, west, north, and south, it was the same,” said another. “In a word, the whole heavens seemed in motion.”
...Adventist Church co-founder Ellen G. White later said that the starry spectacle was “the last of the signs … which were promised by the Savior as tokens of His second advent” (Benjamin Baker, "Lessons from the Night the Stars Fell..." Adventist Review, November 19, 2014).
In fact, the Leonid Meteor Storm of 1833 sparked the belief that the world would end on the Day of Atonement, which Adventist founders believed would be on October 22, 1844. Of course, the world did not end then, as we all know. And the Great Disappointment in the SDA church was the result.
But one thing was certainly true, the formation of the SDA church was hugely impacted by the Leonid Meteor Storm of 1833. They may have misinterpreted its meaning then, but they didn't underestimate its spiritual significance. So, let's take a look at the spectacular Leonid Meteor Storm of 1833... and beyond.
This is what Wikipedia had to say about the Leonid Meteor Storm:
The Leonids are famous because their... storms, can be among the most spectacular. Because of the storm of 1833 and the recent developments in scientific thought of the time (see for example the identification of Halley's Comet) the Leonids have had a major effect on the development of the scientific study of meteors, which had previously been thought to be atmospheric phenomena.
...It was the meteor storm of 1833 that broke into people's modern day awareness – it was of truly superlative strength. One estimate is over one hundred thousand meteors an hour, but another, done as the storm abated, estimated in excess of 240,000 meteors during the nine hours of the storm over the entire region of North America east of the Rocky Mountains.
("Leonids", Wikipedia)Certainly, a sky event this dramatic wasn't only witnessed by people anticipating the Second Coming! Native Americas witnessed it and made life-changing decisions because of it. For example, the Cheyenne established a peace treaty after having seen it. And the Lakota reset their calendar.
The New York Evening Post ran a series of articles on it with sightings reported from Canada to Jamaica. Although the Leonid Meteor Storm of 1833 only appeared in North America, it was talked about in Europe. And truly had a lasting world-wide impact, that was talked about for years after the fact. For example years later, Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States commented on the Leonid Meteor Storm of 1833. (Donald Olson; Laurie Jasinski, November 1999, "Abe Lincoln and the Leonids", Sky and Telescope 34-5)
There have been repeats of the Leonid falling stars, but not as spectacular as 1833. In 1866, a Leonid Meteor Storm again occured, but this time it was seen in Europe also. While it was not of the magnitude of 1833, viewers counted hundreds of meteors per minute with a few thousand per hour. And it was from the 1866 storm that scientists pinpointed the Comet Tempel-Tuttle as the source of the meteor storm, as it passed in the northern portion of the constellation now called Leo (Aryeh) - hence the name Leo-nid Meteor Shower.
The next strong occurrence of the Leonids was in 1868, where the shower again reached a magnitude of 1000 per hour. Then again in 1999, 2000, and 2001 the Leonid meteor shower again reached "storm" level with 3000 meteors per hour falling in the sky, which is still not up to the amazing level witnessed in 1833.
It should be noted that a Leonid meteor shower occurs in November every year and peaks on November 17. Typically the number of meteors witnessed ranges from 20-30 per hour, which is still notable among yearly meteor showers. But the amazing Leonid meteor storm-level shower is quite rare and most spectacular of all.
More on it in tomorrow's blog...
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How interesting! I never heard about any of this. Keep it ocming!
ReplyDeleteSmall edit: The New York Evening Post ran a series of articles on (the) it Delete the
Thanks, Claire! :-)
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