The Leonids
The Leonid meteor shower (or storm rather) is going to be at a fever pitch tonight. Those armchair astronomers out there in the Sacramento/San Francisco region might like to set up shop out of doors around 2am (preferably away from city lights). The peak activity is estimated to reach over 1800 meteorites per hour tonight only. This will be the largest meteor shower that most of us might experience during our lifetime. The Leonid meteors, named for their proximity in the night sky to the constellation Leo, are partcles left in the wake of Comet Tempel-Tuttle as it passes around the sun on its 33 year long orbit. The Earth passes through this trail each year in November, but this year will be especially great. Each year the amount of activity that we see is due to the size of the dust trail that we pass through. This year we are passing through the trails that were left behind the comet in 1767 (European skies) and 1866 (US skies). There won't be another shower of this magnitude until at least 2098, and maybe not even until 2131so set your alarm clocks or start drinking coffee now. This is not an event to miss. For further information on the Leonids
click here. Oh, and since we are also experiencing a full-moon, make sure that you shield yourself (with a building or a tree) from the light of the moon in order to have the best view of the Leonids.
current science news posted by Kirsten at 11/18/2002 10:46:00 PM
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