Observing the Leonid Meteor Shower (11/18/2007)
Every Nov. 17-19, the Earth passes through the debris stream left from Comet Temple-Tuttle on its 33-year orbit around the Sun. The debris stream is hitting the Earth head-on at a speed of about 40 miles per second. As the particles burn up in the Earth's atmosphere, they leave the visible streak we call a meteor. The tremendous velocity of the Leonid meteor particles results in bright, fast meteors in the sky. However, the stream is sparse, and so an observer typically sees only five to 15 Leonid meteors per hour.
If, however, the Earth passes directly through the stream of particles left behind by the comet on a previous passage around the sun, we can get a good outburst. In 1833 and 1966, the Earth passed through two very dense streams just behind the comet resulting in a meteor storm with hundreds of thousands of meteors per hour.
Since the comet was last in the inner solar system in 1998, there is essentially no chance of us passing through a dense stream right behind the comet this year.
Every Nov. 17-19, the Earth passes through the debris stream left from Comet Temple-Tuttle on its 33-year orbit around the Sun. The debris stream is hitting the Earth head-on at a speed of about 40 miles per second. As the particles burn up in the Earth's atmosphere, they leave the visible streak we call a meteor. The tremendous velocity of the Leonid meteor particles results in bright, fast meteors in the sky. However, the stream is sparse, and so an observer typically sees only five to 15 Leonid meteors per hour.
If, however, the Earth passes directly through the stream of particles left behind by the comet on a previous passage around the sun, we can get a good outburst. In 1833 and 1966, the Earth passed through two very dense streams just behind the comet resulting in a meteor storm with hundreds of thousands of meteors per hour.
Since the comet was last in the inner solar system in 1998, there is essentially no chance of us passing through a dense stream right behind the comet this year.
Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by the University of Virginia
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