Leonid Meteor showers

I really thought that the Leonid Meteor showers were something that came along every few years, 5 or 10 or something like that, but discovered that they occur every year at about this time.

The Leonid meteors are debris shed into space by the Tempel-Tuttle comet, which swings through the inner solar system at intervals of 33 years. With each visit the comet leaves behind a trail of dust in its wake.

Lots of the comet's old dusty trails litter the mid-November part of Earth's orbit and the Earth glides through this debris zone every year. Occasionally we'll pass directly through an unusually concentrated dust trail, or filament, which can spark a meteor storm resulting in thousands of meteors per hour. That's what happened in 1999, 2001 and 2002.

We are currently in the process of passing through that area of debris again, and while it will not be as spectacular this year it will definitely be worthy of your attention if you have a clear night for the next couple of days.

More information here, and here is what it looks like from space! Some really great pictures with both articles as well.

Enjoy!