Check out the 2009 Leonid meteor shower this week!
The Leonid meteor shower occurs ever year around November 17th and so will paying us a visit this coming week. It is one of our more famous annual showers because it has the potential to produce stunning meteor storms and has done so a few times in the past. (The picture to the right is based on the extraordinary 1833 storm as viewed over Niagara Falls.) Meteor showers occur when the Earth passes through the orbit of a comet and sweep up debris left behind as the comet makes its regular trip around the sun.
So what should we expect this year? Meteor shower prediction is an imprecise science based on computer models of cometary orbits, and attempting to account for perturbation of those orbits by the Sun and planets over long periods of time. Analysis for this year’s Leonids have produced a wide range of results. I’ve seen some articles predict a nice, fairly normal meteor shower with peak rates of about 20 to 30 meteors an hour. That’s quite a show, actually, and one that’s absolutely worth watching especially since all you have to do is take a comfortable chair outside and sit where you have an open view of the night sky.
Some computer models, though, indicate Earth will pass through dense swarms of debris left by the Leonids’ parent comet (P/Tempel-Tuttle) when it passed by in the years 1466 and 1533. Those models project much higher peak rates of 120 to 150 meteors an hour and perhaps as high as 900 to 1500! Any such peaks would last only for a few minutes and be visible only by observers in Asia (see this map).
No matter where you live please do plan to observe the Leonids. Observers in the US should venture outside just after local midnight in the early morning hours of Tuesday, November 17th. The later you can stay up, the better. (Call in sick on Tuesday if you have to.) Take a warm beverage, perhaps a blanket, and sit where you have a clear view of the eastern sky. One other note — New Moon is on November 16th so there will be no moonlight to diminish your meteor watching this year. For more information and observing tips check out these articles from Sky & Telescope, Space.com and National Geographic
