The Leonid Meteor Shower can be viewed around the world from November 13-20, 2009. Astronomers estimated the peak to be early Tuesday morning (the 17), but the showers can still be seen through the 20th. The video below was taken of the Leonid Meteor Shower early Monday morning and the activity in it significant, and it wasn't taken during the peak.
The best hours to view the Leonid Meteor Shower are after 1:30 am EST and before sunrise each morning until November 20, 2009. The Leonid Meteor Shower reappears each year after the Earth passes through Comet Tempel-Tuttle, and when the comet gets closer to the sun in its orbit, it sheds material and creates clumps in its orbit. When this occurs, thousands of meteors may be seen from Earth.
From 1999-2002, there were hundreds of Leonid Meteors shooting at the same time, and many people could see over 1,000 meteors an hour during the peak time. This type of activity isn’t planned for this year. But better views occur when skywatchers are away from city lights and have a clear night.
NASA has a website that will help you predict the best time will be for viewing the Leonid Meteor Shower in your area, and it is called Fluxtimator, just click on the link and enter your city which shower you want to watch.
Sources: NASA and Wikipedia
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Leonid Meteor Showers from November 13-20, 2009
Leonid Meteor Shower will peak the morning of November 17, 2009
Orionid Meteor Showers 2009 tonight
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Comments
I live up in northern Minnesota, there is little light pollution here and every year I have had an amazing view of the leonids showers! I decided to setup a couple cameras with live feeds to share my view with others. If you’re interested you can check it out at my website here: tinyurl.com/watch-leonid-meteor-live
Wow a huge meteorite came in over Salt Lake on Nov 18 at around 12:05 am
the sky lite up Bright Blue over 2100 south and Redwood Road what a trip
this looked like it explode at 10,000 feet is what it looked like maybe lower
in 35 years of watching the skys I've never seen on get this close before
it was as bright as day like in the skys for a few sec.
Kevin, I live in Grantsville just West of Salt Lake. I was in my living room and at around the time you reported i saw a bright light come from outside, like carlights were shining right outside my window. Then 1 minute later the house started shaking for several seconds. My guess is it broke the sound barrier & thats why i saw light first
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