Indications about the Leonid Meteor Shower

STATES CHRONICLE – It is time for the annual Leonid meteor shower. The celestial show is bound to happen this week. Specialists have predicted that the meteor shower might be jeopardized by the brightness of the moon. After the spectacular event from a few days ago when everybody was thrilled to witness the supermoon, now a new meteorology event is prone to occur.

This meteor shower has annually brought intense asteroid storms. The peak of the Leonid meteor shower will happen on the night of November 17 towards the morning of November 18. Those who live in the Northern Hemisphere are bound to enjoy the most fantastic view until November 21. The meteor shower will continue to strike the night sky a few more days delighting its viewers.

Bill Cooke, NASA’s meteor expert, has asserted that the bright moon and the decreased frequency of the meteor shower, the celestial show may not be as spectacular as the ones from previous years. He also claimed that this is the year the Leonid meteor shower will not be in effusion, thus the rates dropped to approximately 10 to 15 per hour.

These outbursts usually happen when our planet is situated in the middle of an asteroids’ patch. Before they reach the effusion point, the meteors represent a minor shower. The next outburst is believed to happen in 2033. Specialists have explained that despite the fact that there will be lower visibility, the Leonid meteor shower will be visible without the need of a telescope.

On November 16, the Slooth Community Observatory will broadcast for free the entire celestial show. The webcast will be followed by a discussion referring to the event’s mythology and history. The name of the event comes from the name of a constellation called Leo. The celestial show is meant to happen every November when our planet traverses a track of detritus about Comet Tempel-Tuttle.

Terra’s atmosphere scratches the remains of the comet, heating it up thus developing burning spheres of fire known as meteors. Astronomers argued that the meteor will burn up before touching the surface of our planet. In this case, there will be no meteorites. The most spectacular Leonid meteor shower happened back in 1833 when an astonishing number of about 100,000 meteors/hour were seen crossing the sky.

Image courtesy of: flickr