Meteor shower predicted
■ The best time to see the
Leonids will be between 1
and 2 a.m. Thursday.
By Gwen Tietgen
Staff writer
Go outside to a dark place, away
from artificial lights, and look up in
the sky before dawn Thursday, and
you might see a meteor shower.
The Earth is passing through the
Leonid meteor shower, which is vis
ible in the constellation Leo. Leo
rises in the east and will be visible in
the United States after midnight
today.
The Leonid meteor shower can
be seen approximately every 33
years.
The meteors will be visible from
Lincoln by looking straight up in the
sky when Leo first rises. The best
time to observe the meteors will be
between 1 and 2 a.m.
Here are some tips for observing
the Leonid metedrs according to the
American Meteor Society’s Web
site: __ _
■ The point from which the
Leonid meteors appear to radiate is
referred to as the radiant within Leo.
■ To best observe the Leonids,
lie outside in a reclining lawn chair
with your feet pointing toward the
«
Everyone wants to see meteors falling like
snowflakes, but the possibility of this
Happening is slim.”
Martin Gaskell
UNL physics and astronomy professor
east, which is the general direction of
the radiant.
■ Do not look directly at the
radiant because meteors directly in
front of you will not move much and
fainter ones may be missed.
Instead, keep your center of gaze
about 30 or 40 degrees above or west
of the radiant.
The best view will most likely be
from Africa and Europe, said Martin
Gaskell, a University of Nebraska
Lincoln physics and astronomy pro
fessor, who reflected on the signifi
cance of the meteor shower.
“It’s the potential of seeing a very
large number of meteors,” Gaskell
said. “Everyone wants to see mete
ors falling like snowflakes, but the
possibility of this happening is slim.”
Gaskell said NASA is even
preparing for the meteor shower.
“NASA is concerned meteors
will destroy the satellites,” Gaskell
said.
“As a precaution, they have
pointed the Hubble Space Telescope
away from the meteors.”
Ever since Nov. 17, 1966, when
an outburst of shooting stars filled
the skies of western North America
for close to an hour, meteor
observers have been waiting for
another such spectacle.
Forecasting unusual meteor
showers is tricky, according to Sky
and Telescope magazine, November
1999.
The Leonid meteoroids are small
bits of debris shed by the periodic
comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle.
Like a dirt-filled dump truck on a
bumpy road, the comet leaves a mov
ing “river of rubble” along its path,
the magazine said.
Its reported annual meteor show
ers include the Perseids, which occur
in August, Orioniels, which occur in
January, and Geminids, which occur
in December.
r
Man arrested
for clinic thefts
■ Police are still searching
for another man, connected
to the stolen drugs.
By Jake Bleed
Senior staff writer
An 18-year-old Missouri man was
arrested Monday night for breaking
into four Lincoln veterinary clinics
Sept. 13, Lincoln Police Sgt. Dennis
Duckworth said.
A Lancaster County Sheriff’s
deputy pulled over Clinton S.
Blankenship, 18, at 10:20p.m near the
intersection of 56th and Highway 2,
Duckworth said.
Marian Hohnstein, a Lincoln
police investigator, said Blankenship
was pulled over because police knew
he was in the car. They had been look
ing for him since just after the burglar
ies.
From Parkville, Mo., Blankenship
left Lincoln after the burglaries took
place but returned briefly Monday,
Hohnstein said.
“I think he was just back in Lincoln
for the night,” Hohnstein said.
Police are still searching for anoth
er man believed to be involved in the
break-ins and are not releasing how
Blankenship was connected with the
crimes.
Drugs used as animal tranquilizers
were taken from the clinics. A total of
70 milliliters of Ketamine, also known
as Special K, which is popular at rave
dance parties, was taken from three
clinics.
Also taken were 10 milliliters of
Valium and 450 milliliters of
Xylazene, of which the effects on
humans are not known.
About $2,300 in cash and checks
were also taken.
No drugs were found on
Blankenship when police arrested
him, Hohnstein said, adding that the
missing drugs would probably never
be found.
“That’s probably all gone. I don’t
have any indication that there’s any of
that still around,” Hohnstein said.
The veterinary clinics broken into
were: South Ridge Animal Clinic,
2901 Pine Lake Road, Parkview
Animal Hospital, 3201 S. 10th St.; The
Animal Care Clinic, 255 S. 84th St.;
Williamsburg Veterinary Clinic, 6041
S. 40th St.; and Belmont Veterinary
Center, 2200 Comhusker Hwy.
All five were broken into the
nights of Sept. 13 and 14.
'
28
_
Man given
two years
probation
■ Andrews was a room
mate of the man accused
in Pickinpaugh murder.
By Jake Bleed
Senior staff writer
A Lancaster County District Court
Judge sentenced Tanner Andrews, the
former roommate of a Lincoln man
accused of killing a teen-ager in §
February, to two years probation for -i
possession of cocaine.
Andrews’ roommate, Derek *
Graves, was arrested March 1 for the
Feb. 18 shooting of Brandon
Pickinpaugh in a McDonald’s parking
lot on Van Dorn Boulevard.
Andrews was not involved in
Pickinpaugh’s killing, police said.
But while searching the apartment
he shared with Graves, police found a
.38 pistol and a small amount of
cocaine, which Andrews said were his,
court documents said.
TUa - *_„
TT MU 11 UVVU VW W
November 1998 burglary.
Andrews was originally charged
with possession of a stolen firearm and
possession of a controlled substance.
Andrews made a plea bargain agree
ment Sept 13, agreeing to plead guilty
to the drug possession charge after
county attorneys dropped the weapon
possession charge.
Judge Karen Flowers ordered >
Andrews to avoid alcohol and drugs, ;
contact with people with gang connec- f
tions and to maintain an 11 p.m curfew. f
“I think that you are worth taking a f
chance on probation,” Flowers told
Andrews. “You have made progress,
and I’d like to see you continue.”
Graves and two other Lincoln men, I
Jeremy Kurtzer and Jedidiah *
Ngirchoimei, were arrested for f
Pickinpaugh’s death. Police said the •
three killed die 17-year-old while trying
to rob him of three-fourths of a pound l
of marijuana and $950 dollars. J
A fourth man, Dennis Sciscoe, was ;
arrested for concealing evidence after t
the killing and charged as an accessory |
to a felony. I
All four have pleaded not guilty. |