Weekend Meteors

Every year in mid-November, Earth glides through a veritable minefield of comet dust clouds.

The source of the debris is Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. This weekend Earth will graze one of those clouds, producing a mild outburst of Leonid meteors.

If forecasters are correct, the outburst will peak around 0445 UTC on Sunday, Nov. 19th (11:45 p.m. EST on Saturday, Nov. 18th).

The timing favors observers in western Europe, Brazil and the Atlantic coast of North America, who could see as many as 100 meteors per hour. Dark skies are strongly recommended.

Please visit http://spaceweather.com for sky maps and more
information--including links to a meteor radar where you can listen to the Leonids.

Latest news stories..

• Get our news headlines for your website • Submit your news story