Strong Leonid Meteor Shower

Did you manage to catch the Meteor Shower? I was there, out in the big open field, but only manage to see 5 shooting stars instead of a shower. Guess the sky was too cloudy that night. Festival of the Stars was organized by Science Centre, TASOS & PA at Japanese Garden which had attracted thousands of stars watchers.

One of the best annual meteor showers peak in the pre-dawn hours of Wednesday, and for some skywatchers the show could be quite impressive. The best seats are in Asia, but North American observers should be treated to an above average performance of the Leonid meteor shower, weather permitting. The trick for all observers is to head outside in the wee hours of the morning – between 1 a.m. and dawn – regardless where you live.

The Leonids put on a solid show every year, if skies are clear and moonlight does not interfere. This year the moon is near its new phase, and not a factor. For anyone in the Northern Hemisphere with dark skies, away from urban and suburban lighting, the show should be worth getting up early to see.

It was predicted that there will be 20 to 30 meteors per hour over the Americas, and as many as 200 to 300 per hour over Asia. Urban dwellers and suburbanites will see far fewer, as the fainter meteors will be drowned out by local lights.

The Leonids are created by the comet Tempel-Tuttle, which passes through the inner solar system every 33 years on its orbit around the sun. Each time by, it leaves a new river of debris, mostly bits of ice and rock no bigger than a sand grain but a few the size of a pea or marble. Over time, these cosmic streams spread out, so predicting exactly what will happen is difficult. We can predict when Earth will cross a debris stream with pretty good accuracy. The intensity of the display is less certain, though, because we don't know how much debris is in each stream.

When Earth plows into the debris, the bits hit the atmosphere and vaporize, creating sometimes dramatic streaks of light and the occasional fireball with a smoky-looking trail that can remain visible for several minutes. The Leonid stream is moving in the opposite direction of Earth, producing impact speeds of 72 km/s, higher than many other meteors. Such speeds tend to produce meteors with hues of white, blue, aquamarine and even green.

The best viewing will be in rural areas. Get out of town if you can. If you have local lights, scout a location in advance where the lights are blocked by a building, tree or hill. Leonids can appear anywhere, but if you trace them back, they all point to a hub, or radiant, in the constellation Leo – hence the name.

One truth about the Leonids is that they always produce, and they sometimes produce spectacular, unforgettable fireballs.