Leonid Meteor Shower Expected to Rain Down on Earth on Night of Nov. 17—Here’s What You Need to Know

Leonid Meteor Shower Expected to Rain Down on Earth on Night of Nov. 17—Here’s What You Need to Know
Illustration - Bill Ingalls/ NASA via Getty Images
Michael Wing
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Every mid-November, Earth passes through a region of outer space littered with bits of cosmic debris that habitually light up like matches in the night sky. The leftover remnants of a comet, called 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, manifest as a stream of space dust, rock, and frozen gas trailing throughout the solar system. Their striking the Earth’s atmosphere results in a pyrotechnic spectacle called a meteor shower, which sometimes turns into a prolific, even sublime, meteor storm.

This particular November meteor shower is called the Leonids, so named because it seems to radiate from a point located in the constellation Leo the lion. If you want to catch this celestial light show, you still have a few days before they peak.

Michael Wing
Michael Wing
Editor and Writer
Michael Wing is a writer and editor based in Calgary, Canada, where he was born and educated in the arts. He writes mainly on culture, human interest, and trending news.
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