2010 Leonid Meteor Shower Reaches Its Peak
It’s been building for a week and now the Leonid meteor shower 2010 is ready for its grand finale. The best time to catch the Leonid meteor shower in the United States will be a few hrs before daybreak on Thurs., Nov. 18. Get up about 3 a.m. for the best show, when up to 12 Leonids per hour can be expected. Instead of chunks of rock hurtling via the sky, the Leonid light show is made up of cosmic dust from the tail of Comet Tempel-Tuttle that vaporizes upon impact using the atmosphere.
When and where to view the Leonids
When the Leonid meteor shower 2010 gets to its maximum right before dawn, the Earth is starting to enter probably the most dense part of Comet Tempel-Tuttle’s trail of debris. The skies will be really dark with a setting moon around 3 a.m. Look toward the southeast in the direction of the constellation Leo. This point within the sky is called the “radiant,” because it will appear that the meteors stream outward from this point like water from a shower head.
Shooting star facts
The Leonid meteor shower 2010 will occur because of comet debris rotating around the sun. It will go in the opposite direction of the Earth around the sun. The atmosphere is hit pretty fast by these meteors. about forty-five miles per second is the speed. A rifle bullet is slow by comparison at a velocity of about 1,000 meters per second. The meteors are very small. They are the size of a grain of sand usually. The particles simply are vaporizing the sky. This is exactly what leads to a streak of lamination that will stay for a moment.
Planet concluding
As an annual meteor shower, the Leonids are pretty amazing. Of course, there is really planning being less this yr with the frequency of a dozen per hour. There had been about 1,000 an hour from 1992 to 20002 for the Leonids. The atmosphere had about 10,000 per hour vaporizing in 1996. The Leonids were like crazy rain before individuals knew what meteors even were in 1833. The shooting stars lit up the sky so it had been really bright. Many were worried it was the conclusion of the world as they would awaken dreary from their rest because of it.
Details from
Astronomy.com
astronomy.com/en/News-Observing/News/2010/11/Leonid%20meteor%20shower%202010.aspx
MSNBC
msnbc.msn.com/id/40033447/ns/technology_and_science-space/
Space.com
space.com/scienceastronomy/top10_leonidsfacts-6.html