Leonids to be Drowned out by the Full Moon
One of the most well known meteor showers of the year, the Leonids, peak this weekend. Not expecting 20+ meteors per hour this year though.
A major problem this year will be that the Moon is full at the same time and will cause "light pollution" to those trying to see the shooting stars.
This year, we expecting only 10-15 meteors per hour. At times, the Leonids have been meteor "storms," specifically in 1966 and 1833. In 1966, observers in the southwest United States reported seeing 40 to 50 meteors per second (that’s 2,400 to 3,000 meteors a minute!) during a span of 15 minutes on the morning of Nov. 17, 1966. Wow!
The Leonids are the leftovers from Comet Tempel-Tuttle.
The Leonids are so called because most seem to originate from the constellation Leo the Lion.
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