Leonids meteor shower highly visible Tuesday, Wednesday night — Pagasa
A stream of lights shooting across the sky will be highly visible starting tonight night as Leonid meteor shower peaks, coinciding with the rise of the new moon.
“It is predicted to peak at more than 40 meteors per hour,” Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration chief Prisco Nilo said.
The celestial display peaks on November 17-18, at about 11:00 pm to 6:00 am.
What starts out as tiny specks of dust and debris ejected by Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle result in grandiose light show produced by Leonids meteor shower.
Every November, Earth passes through this stream of dust.
Meteors light up when the said dust or particles hit our atmosphere at 147,000 mph (238,000 km/h) and vaporize because of friction with the air.
The meteoroids, typically the size of a sand grain, vaporizes as it travels downward in the atmosphere. Some pea-sized objects create dramatic fireballs.
If one traces the meteor paths backward, they appear to emanate from the constellation Leo the Lion (hence the name Leonid).
Nilo cited this year, our planet will pass through dense stream laid out by the Leonids shower in the year 1466, but this time closer to its center where more material will slam into our atmosphere.
Observers in Asia and Europe may see as many as 100 meteors per hour, he said citing a statement by the National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA).
He said New Moon on November 17 ensures perfectly dark skies for observers of this shower under normal weather conditions or cloudless skies, he said.
The Leonids are famous for storming, most recently in 1999-2002 when deep crossings of Tempel-Tuttle’s debris streams produced outbursts of more than 1000 meteors per hour. (PNA)
