Leonid Shower Spotted

The Leonid shower that happened this past November 18 lasted between 4am and 6am and the peak occurred around 4:45am for those who watched the shower in Connecticut. NASA had researchers monitor the storm in sites in Alabama, Florida, Hawaii, New Mexico, Guam, and Mongolia. Researchers report seeing as many as 2,000 leonids an hour in Mount Lemmon, Arizona. “We’re collecting this data to analyze and refine our meteor forecasting techniques. If we can better determine where, when, and how the meteors will strike, we can take protective measures to prevent or minimize damage to our spacecraft”, said Dr. Rob Suggs, the Leonid Environment Operations Center team leader. Representatives from NASA say that even though the meteors are only about the size of a grain of sand they have the potential to move about 45 miles per second.

I observed the Leonid shower display just north of Willimantic at the Eastern Connecticut State University Baseball Complex’s intramural soccer field. The shooting stars peaked at 4:45am. These stars were bright and came from a variety of different directions, their size about as big as the moon. Many students observed the nature show from both the baseball complex and the tennis courts behind Hurley Hall. Some students stood to watch the show while others lay on towels on the ground or on camping chairs. As it got closer to dawn, the shooting stars were dimmer and fewer. This reporter observed about ten to fifteen stars shooting across the sky. They came without warning meaning that some viewers only saw the tail end of some of the stars while others were lucky to be either lying on the ground or looking at the portion of the sky when the next star started. This reporter watched the sky until 6:15am and watched the sunrise on ECSU. Although sunrises happen every day, they provided a beautiful ending to an awesome show.

According to NASA, a Leonid shower happens every year when Earth passes close to the orbit of the Comet Tempel-Tuttle and the debris left in the comet’s path. They say that this year it was exceptionally strong as a result of the timing and position of the comet tails. NASA reported that the material that United States observers saw was ejected from the comet in 1766, a decade before the country was founded.

According to National Public Radio, every 33 years, the Comet Tempel-Tuttle swings by the Sun, passing through Earth’s orbit on its way. As the comet approaches the Sun, the solar wind and radiation strip off the comet bits of dust and grain-sized pebbles. Left behind is a dust trail millions of miles long. They report that the next greatest night show won’t be until 2099. Next year the Leonids arrive during a full moon, which will make it hard to see. There won’t be much of a comet trail for Earth to run into until the Temple-Tuttle swings by again 2032.