2009 Leonid Meteor
The night sky will light up early Thursday morning as part of the annual mid-November display of shooting stars known as the Leonid meteor shower.
The very strong display will favor those living across most of central and eastern Asia. In this region, meteor rates might briefly rise to a few hundred per hour. In the United States and Canada, eastern observers will be particularly well-positioned for maximum activity, expected sometime between 3:30 and 5:30 a.m. EST.
The Leonid meteor shower is so named because of its proximity to the constellation Leo.
The best conditions to view the display are at locations away from city lights with no cloud cover and after the moon sets. If you can see each star of the Little Dipper, your eyes have “dark adapted,” and your chosen site is probably dark enough. Under these conditions, you will see plenty of meteors.
The last meteor storm took place in 2002 when huge numbers of meteors were seen. Scientists report that storms occur about every 33 years, but why this happens is unknown.
