Lincoln (Neb.) - Nov. 9, 2001 - Some of the world's top meteor experts are predicting an unusually active Leonid meteor shower for North America in the pre-dawn hours of Nov. 18.
Sky and Telescope magazine predicts that the maximum rates for this year's Leonid shower should occur around 4 a.m. CST when an observer in a clear, dark location away from city lights should see a meteor every few seconds coming from the east out of the constellation Leo.
"Any evening, if you go out to a dark sky site, you should see an average of seven meteors per hour," said Jack Dunn, coordinator of Mueller Planetarium at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. "But as the Leonid shower heads toward the peak time, we would hope to have a nice display beginning just before midnight on Saturday the 17th leading into the morning of the 18th."
Dunn said that while many people call meteors "shooting stars," they, of course, are not stars but small bits of rock and dust left over from the beginnings of the solar system. He said some meteor showers like the Leonids are associated with comet debris that has broken loose and become attracted by Earth's gravity. When they plunge into Earth's atmosphere, the particles begin to heat up and glow, creating burning trails across the night sky. Most meteors never reach the ground.
"Recent Leonid showers over Nebraska have been spectacular and I'm
looking forward to the morning of Sunday, Nov. 18," said UNL
astrophysicist Martin Gaskell. "Most of the meteors will be faint, so to
appreciate the show it is essential to go out into the countryside, away
from lights."
For questions regarding these releases, contact:
tsimons1@unl.edu
(402) 472-8514, Fax: (402) 472-7825