New Delhi, India (AHN) - Stargazers in India are in for a treat on Tuesday and Wednesday when the Leonid Meteor Showers will lit up the night sky from midnight onwards. The meteor shower, which is an annual event, is, however, special this year, and stems from a trail that leads back to the AD years.
What makes this year's meteor shower more special is the fact that, "the earth is going to cross the central part of a dust trail that was left behind by a comet when it crossed the sun in 1466 AD," said Debiprosad Duari, director of research and academics of the Birla Planetarium in Kolkata.
Duari told AHN, " According to NASA scientists and International Meteor Organization, this year, it may lead to a heightened activity of meteor shower reaching a frequency of 250 - 300 meteors per hour."
Every year around November 16 & 17 as the Earth passes through the cometary debris of the periodic comet, P-55/Tempel Tuttle. So, every 17th November, one should expect a brilliant firework display. However, the intensity of the meteor shower is not the same everywhere and hence the shower is not as spectacular every year, according to a press release from the Birla Planetarium.
The spectacularity of the shower depends on what part of the debris the earth is crossing and also which one of the debris trail among the different ones left behind by the comet, every time it comes near the sun, once in 33.2 years, the release added.
This time, however, the meteors will be much faster and of shorter duration. "One has to have extremely clear and dark sky to observe the full glory of this astronomical show." Duari said.
"There is absolutely no danger in observing this event through naked eyes and absolutely nothing alarming is going to happen because of this shower," Duari said. "In general one does not expect any meteorite bigger than grains of sand out of this Leonid meteor shower and so it will not cause any harm to life and property."
Duari said that the response has been huge and enthusiasm was building up among the stargazers. Duari advises, "lie down on the ground, take precautions not to catch cold and enjoy this meteor shower on the night of November 17."
"I am looking forward to the event immensely," said Partha Guha, an ardent stargazer in Kolkata. "However, I am a little anxious as the sky has been overcast for the past few days. I hope the sky clears for a better view tonight. I am keeping my fingers crossed for that."
A meteor shower is a shower of light streaks that enter the earth when the earth comes in contact with the dust trail left by a comet. Comets which are mostly made up of ice and dust, when they approach the sun, the ice in them melts leaving behind a trail of dust along its path.
This year's Leonid meteor shower peaks on Tuesday, Nov. 17th. If forecasters are correct, the shower should produce a mild but pretty sprinkling of meteors over North America followed by a more intense outburst over Asia. The phase of the Moon will be new, setting the stage for what could be one of the best Leonid showers in years.
"We're predicting 20 to 30 meteors per hour over the Americas, and as many as 200 to 300 per hour over Asia," says Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. "Our forecast is in good accord with independent theoretical work by other astronomers." (1)
Leonids are bits of debris from Comet Tempel-Tuttle. Every 33 years the comet visits the inner solar system and leaves a stream of dusty debris in its wake. Many of these streams have drifted across the November portion of Earth's orbit. Whenever we hit one, meteors come flying out of the constellation Leo.
"We can predict when Earth will cross a debris stream with pretty good accuracy," says Cooke. "The intensity of the display is less certain, though, because we don't know how much debris is in each stream." Caveat observer!
The first stream crossing on Nov. 17th comes around 0900 UT (4 a.m. EST, 1 a.m. PST). The debris is a diffuse mix of particles from several old streams that should produce a gentle display of two to three dozen meteors per hour over North America. Dark skies are recommended for full effect.
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