It is amazing how much excitement a few pieces of solar system debriscan cause. On November 13, 1833 folks in the eastern US were awakened to what appeared to be the heavens descending. In the early morning hours up to 150,000  shooting stars  were seen descending from the skies. Frightened people gathered in the streets and many wondered what had angered their gods. Following this event, all sorts of religious revivals were triggered all over the world.

We now know that this event was a meteor shower, more specifically the33 year peak of the Leonid meteor shower. And while it is doubtful the shower will be as grand as that of 1833, we will see some celestial fireworks this November as the shower peaks again.

Meteor showers have their origins in comets, solar system debris, left overfrom planet making processes. As comets pass near the Sun in their orbits they melt a bit and out-gass and leave behind a trail of dust and dirt which remains in the comet's orbital plane. If the Earth passes through the come's orbit, then a meteor shower is likely. The Earth's gravity sweeps up some of this dust and debris and it usually burns up in the Earth's atmosphere. This is what we see as a meteor, or  shooting star.

In the past these celestial side shows were often thought to be ill omensof wars, famine or the deaths of Kings (not unlike the omens about their parent comets.) On the rare occasions a piece of the meteor survives the atmosphere and hits the ground, it is then called a meteorite. Our ancestors believed these  thunderstones  were ordinary rocks which had been struck by lightning and changed.

The Leonid meteor shower is one of the oldest in recorded history, withrecords dating back to 50 BC. There is some Leonid meteor activity in November of every year, but about every 33 years, the shower peaks and often activity increases and can produce a meteor storm.

The reason we don't have a Leonid storm every November is becausemost of the dust and debris is collected in a narrow stream near the object it originates from, comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. The comet has a highly elliptical orbit around the Sun every 33.25 years. The comet debris and the Earth orbit the Sun in opposite directions so the Earth meets the stream head-on.

So why, jf the meteors originate from Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, are theycalled the Leonids? Good question! Astronomers name meteor showers after the area of sky they appear to originate from. So, the Leonids appear to originate from the area of sky occupied by the constellation Leo the lion. Other than appearance, the meteors have nothing to do with the stars in Leo!

Most of the debris from the comet is tiny, sand grain sized bits. They willburn up completely in the Earth's atmosphere and pose no threat to us. They do however, pose a destructive threat to any satellites in orbit around the Earth. For some time, companies which own satellites have been assessing the possible dangers to their satellites. Though the particles ar small, they are traveling at 155,000 miles per hour and pack the damage of a .22 caliber bullet.

There are over 500 satellites in orbit around the Earth. It is believed thatsome satellites may suffer permanent damage and become inoperable. Most however, will suffer a mild to moderate sandblasting effect which NASA estimates is the equivalent of 1 to 3 years of weathering that will degrade their performance.

The best time to see the Leonids is the early hours of November 17th, justbefore dawn will be optimum. You won't need any optical aid, just look in the high east/overhead area of the sky. Don't stare at any particular area but let your eyes relax and they will pick up any movement in the sky. You can also watch several nights before and after the peak because the activity should be high then also.