PHILADELPHIA - Early this cold November morning the Leonid meteor shower wowed skywatchers as intoxicating blurs of light streaked in from space
PHILADELPHIA - Early this cold November morning the Leonid meteor shower wowed skywatchers as tiny bits of comet debris streaked in from space and created intoxicating blurs of light.
"What a show!" said Phillipe Ayres, who watched the event with his family in Port St. Lucie, Florida. "Even though it was cloudy at times, we were able to see many green fireballs streaking across the heavens."
Ayres told SPACE.com he counted about five meteors per minute around 4 a.m. local time, but by 5:45 "there were too many shooting stars to count. The colors were bright and clear with momentary smoke trails."
Even under city lights, the Leonids put on a dazzling display, though some observers expressed disappointment over dim shooting stars and a show that was not as impressive as last year. The spectacular storm of 2001 may have left some folks jaded, however. Mixed reactions to this years version of the annual event also seemed to be based on local viewing conditions.
During one five-minute period under a slight haze in the suburbs of Philadelphia, 16 shooting stars graced a patch of the night that was roughly 30 percent of the entire sky, surrounded by trees. A rough projection indicates that during the peak of activity, between 5:30 and 5:45 a.m. EST, an hourly rate 300 to 400 shooting stars, perhaps more, should have been visible to an observer with a view of the entire sky in this part of the country.
Skywatchers in rural eastern locations should have seen even higher rates.
The peak was forecast to occur at 5:30 a.m. EST. Astronomers had expected hourly rates to approach or exceed 600 for rural areas. Many residents of the East, where the show was expected to be at its best, combated thin haze or in some cases thick cloud cover.
Glowing reports
Observers on a SPACE.com message board gave glowing reports, one calling it the "best shower Ive ever seen." Though some people reported seeing bright fireballs, this year's storm seemed generally to be a bit lacking in these impressive, super-bright meteors compared to previous years, many people noted.
|  Bill Gallagher made this animated clip of a Leonid from near Lake Tahoe, California, on Nov. 19, 2002. The bright spot near the top is Jupiter.
Bill Hall snapped this Leonid image from Lancaster, Texas, near Dallas on the morning of Nov. 19, 2002. It was taken with a digital camera set for a 30-second exposure. Twilight is just breaking, and Jupiter is in the lower left. Stars are a bit elongated because they move slightly during long exposures. Click to enlarge
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However, many of the meteors seen by several observers were as bright or brighter than Jupiter, which shone brilliantly and hung near the point in the constellation Leo from which the meteors appeared to emanate. Many skywatchers who braved the cold until dawn also saw Venus, the incredibly bright "Morning Star" that rose in the south-southeast just ahead of the Sun.
Activity seemed to be rather slow leading up to the peak, then for a short stretch 15 minutes or less, many people said the pace was furious.
On an electronic meteor observing list called Meteorobs, Kim Youmans, watching from Georgia, reported sometimes seeing "six and seven meteors in less than 5 seconds." In San Diego, Joseph Assmus talled 250 Leonids in 3.5 hours. Most were faint, he said.
"Overall, I was struck by the lack of brilliant meteors this year," said Gary W. Kronk, an experienced meteor observer. Kronk watched from Illinois and counted 94 shooting stars during one 15-minute period, posting his report on Meteorobs.
From the desert outside Tucson, Arizona, an avid skywatcher sent SPACE.com this report: 504 meteors between 2:45 AM and 4:30 AM local time, and a rate that climbed to about 50 per minute in spurts centered around 3:30 AM.
As many as 75 percent of the shooting stars that would have been visible were outshone by the Moon, astronomers had predicted before the event.
A full analysis of the spectacle wont be completed for days. Europeans were to see a good show, forecasters had said, but many locations were fogged out.
British observer Gary Wilson waited out cloudy weather and was rewarded with about 45 minutes of mostly clear skies surrounding the peak time, he reported to Meteorobs. He observed bursts of six meteors in six seconds, he said. A Danish observer counted 50 meteors in 15 minutes during the peak, despite some clouds.
Behind the shower
The Leonids occur every November, when Earth passes through a complex network of dust streams laid down by a comet called Tempel-Tuttle. The comet rounds the Sun every 33 years, and on each pass through the inner solar system it leaves a fresh stream of particles in a slightly different location. [The Science of the Leonids]
Over centuries and millennia, these streams all spread out, mingling and creating a giant river of stuff ranging in size from sand grains to marbles.
In normal years, Leonid meteor rates top out at a few dozen per hour, or near one per minute. Only when our planet travels through a dense stream put down relatively recently can outbursts like this years occur.
This morning, Earth waded into the middle of streams that Tempel-Tuttle had deposited in 1767 and 1866. The older stream was to generate a peak of activity over Europe at around 0400 UT. The newer stream fueled the more active North American peak. Other bits of debris that had been drifting through space for thousands of years also contributed to the show.
Timing dictated that people in Asia and the Southern Hemisphere were not well positioned for this years grand displays.
Whats next?
No significant Leonid storms are expected again until 2033 or later. Another major storm wont likely occur until at least 2098. Meanwhile, the Perseid meteor shower, an annual August event, could kick up to storm level in the year 2028.
This years Leonid display will tail off quickly now. Only a sprinkle of shooting stars will be visible each hour between midnight and dawn Wednesday. The next chance to see a nice meteor shower will be on Dec. 14, when the annual Geminids are expected to put on a fine display.
Editors Note: This story was updated at 1:10 p.m. EST, Nov. 19, 2002
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