Leonids
From Slackerpedia Galactica
The Leonids are a meteor shower that happens every year when Earth passes through the debris stream of Comet Temple Tuttle. The meteor shower typically peaks on November 17th of each year.
The Leonids experienced a great deal of hype in the late 1990's and early 2000's due to predictions of spectacular outbursts by astronomers caused by a recent passage of Temple Tuttle. Some of these predictions came true, but most did not. And when they did the storms lasted only a few hours, meaning very small regions of the world saw them. Usually the Leonids are a very small meteor shower, with only around 10 meteors per hour at peak time under ideal conditions.
External Links
- Slackerpedia Galactica audio podcast and transcript about the 2006 Leonid prediction bust
- Wikipedia
- NASA's Leonid MAC Mission to watch the Leonids from an aircraft
