Leonids Meteor Shower Peaks November 18-24, 2024 | BBC Star Diary
The Leonids meteor shower reaches the peak of activity this week. It might not be the best year for the shower, but fortunately we are on hand with many more stargazing highlights in this week’s Star Diary podcast, from the makers of BBC Sky at Night Magazine.
The Leonids, peaking during mid-November each year, are considered to be a major shower though meteor rates are often as low as about 15 meteors per hour. The Leonids are bright meteors and can also be colorful. They are also fast: Leonids travel at speeds of 44 miles (71 kilometers) per second, and they are considered to be some of the fastest meteors.
Every 33 years, or so, viewers on Earth may experience a Leonid storm that can peak with hundreds to thousands of meteors seen per hour depending on the location of the observer.
A meteor storm versus a shower is defined as having at least 1,000 meteors per hour. Viewers in 1966 experienced a spectacular Leonid storm: thousands of meteors per minute fell through Earth's atmosphere during a 15-minute period. There were so many meteors seen that they appeared to fall like rain. The last Leonid meteor storm took place in 2002.
Leonids are also known for their fireballs and Earth-grazer meteors. Fireballs are larger explosions of light and color that can persist longer than an average meteor streak. This is due to the fact that fireballs originate from larger particles of cometary material. Fireballs are also brighter with magnitudes brighter than -3. Earth-grazers are meteors that streak close to the horizon and are known for their long and colorful tails.
Where Do Meteors Come From?
Meteors come from leftover comet particles and bits from broken asteroids. When comets come around the Sun, the dust they emit gradually spreads into a dusty trail around their orbits. Every year the Earth passes through these debris trails, which allows the bits to collide with our atmosphere where they disintegrate to create fiery and colorful streaks in the sky.
The Comet
The pieces of space debris that interact with our atmosphere to create the Leonids originate from comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. It takes comet Tempel-Tuttle 33 years to orbit the sun once.
Comet Tempel-Tuttle was discovered twice independently—in 1865 and 1866 by Ernst Tempel and Horace Tuttle, respectively. Tempel-Tuttle is a small comet—its nucleus measures only about 2.24 miles (3.6 kilometers) across.
Learn more about the Leonids Meteor Shower:
https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/meteors-meteorites/leonids/
Duration: 16 minutes
Release Date: Nov. 17, 2024
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