The Leonid Shower

The Leonid shower that occurs every November is an event caused by the Earth passing through an especially dusty area of space.


Photo courtesy NASA
Arizona, November 1966 - The Leonid meteor shower rained 2,300 meteors per minute for 20 minutes.

The extra dust is there because the orbit of the Temple-Tuttle comet passes near Earth's orbit every 33 years and leaves behind a dusty trail.

To view the Leonid shower, you just go outside at the appropriate hour, look toward the constellation Leo (hence the name "Leonid") and you should be able to see shooting stars occurring several times per minute!

For more information on the Leonid meteor shower and other space phenomena, check out the links on the next page.