Leonid Meteor Shower: Spectacular Display of Fireballs – Eyes to the Sky (+Video)

This week, one of the most famous of the annual meteor displays is due to reach its peak: the Leonid meteor shower.

The meteor shower can be seen by viewers from both hemispheres.  The Leonids will peak on the morning of November 17 and late at night of November 18 in 2016, just 3 days after a Full Moon.
 

Stormy times

The Leonid meteor shower is an extremely variable shower. A dense swarm of particles consisting of material that is shed by the Comet Tempel-Tuttle returns about every 33 years (the comet’s orbital period), and if it crosses the Earth’s orbit during November, an intense meteor storm is seen. 

The Leonids produced spectacular displays — exceeding 1,000 meteors per minute —in 1799, 1833, 1866 and 1966 (when observers were left awestruck by the appearance of more than 2,000 per minute). 

The recent lean years have generated only about a dozen or so Leonids per hour, but they are always somewhat unpredictable. The last really bright and spectacular Leonid shower occurred in 2001, when Leonids could be seen at rates of up to 40 per minute.

Space.com
http://www.space.com/34734-leonid-meteor-shower-2016-peaks-now.html

Clips, images credit: ESO, ESA/HUBBLE & NASA/JPL

We encourage you to Share our Reports, Analyses, Breaking News and Videos. Simply Click your Favorite Social Media Button and Share.

• Space and Quakes (3rd Update – 5.5 quake in Tonga) (2nd Update – 5.9 / 5.7 quakes in Indonesia) (Update – 5.0 quake in Canada and Tsunami warning in Alaska) (5.9 quake in Tonga)
• ‘The Last Steps’
• In the Cleanroom with Game Changing GOES-R Next Gen Weather Satellite – Launching Nov. 19
• Are Red Quasars Star Killers?
• Carnival of Space #483
• A New Prototype Telescope Proves Itself Worthy
• Alert: Crack in Earth’s Magnetic Shield Just Detected, Experts Say ‘a Flip is Overdue’ What This Means for Us (Video)
• Unusual Origins of High-Energy Electrons Found
• NASA Pinpoints Elusive Brown Dwarf
• Space and Quakes (2nd Update – 5+ quakes in Afghanistan) (Update – 5+ quakes in Saint Helena) (1 asteroid today and New Zealand still rocking)