Leonids from Leo
Explanation:
Is Leo leaking?
Leo, the famous sky
constellation visible on the left of the
above all-sky photograph,
appears to be the source of all the
meteors seen in 1998's
Leonids Meteor Shower.
That
Leonids point back to
Leo is not a surprise - it is the reason that this November
meteor shower
is called the Leonids.
Sand-sized debris expelled from
Comet Tempel-Tuttle
follows a well-defined orbit about our Sun,
and the part of the orbit that approaches
Earth
is superposed in front of the constellation Leo.
Therefore, when Earth crosses this orbit, the
radiant point of
falling debris appears in Leo.
Over 150
meteors can be seen in the
above four-hour effort.
The
Leonids Meteor Shower of 2003 is expected to have two peaks,
the first three days ago and the
second a long-duration peak covering much of November 19.
Although
visible meteor rates might approach one per minute, they are
predicted to be much less than in the previous few years.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
