Here come the Leonids.Attention, skywatchers. That annual fall light show, the Leonid meteor shower meteor shower, increase in the number of meteors observed in a particular part of the sky. The trails of the meteors of a meteor shower all appear to be traceable back to a single point in the sky, known as the radiant point, or radiant. , returns the night of Nov. 17, and some astronomers have suggested that this year's event could be quite a spectacle. The shower takes place every November, when Earth passes through a stream of debris shed by Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle (SN: 10/31/98, p. 280). Every 33 years or so, when the comet passes close by, Earth encounters an especially dense part of the debris stream. Observers then see a heavy shower or even a storm, when more than 1,000 meteors streak across the sky in less than an hour. Earth last witnessed a Leonid storm in 1966. A team of British and Australian astronomers has predicted a moderately good show for this year and next--stronger than in 1998--but they say the real McCoy Real McCoy, the probably originally McKay, a Scotch whisky; the term now alludes to the “first or best of its kind” or “the actual one.” [Pop. Culture: Payton, 409] See : Genuineness won't occur until 2001 and 2002. Other astronomers doubt such forecasts. Although Europe and Africa may have ringside seats this year, North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. , especially the East Coast, could also witness some fireworks fireworks: see pyrotechnics. fireworks Explosives or combustibles used for display. Of ancient Chinese origin, fireworks evidently developed out of military rockets and explosive missiles and accompanied the spread of military explosives westward to . Start gazing eastward around midnight, when the constellation Leo Leo, in astronomy Leo [Lat.,=the lion], northern constellation lying S of Ursa Major and on the ecliptic (apparent path of the sun through the heavens) between Cancer and Virgo; it is one of the constellations of the zodiac. rises. Viewing might improve after the moon sets, but activity may have dwindled by then. |
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