A famous comet sheds debris through our skyThe German Wilhelm Tempel and the American Horace Parnell Tuttle were astronomers and famous comet hunters.
On January 6, 1866, they independently discovered one that almost exactly intersects Earth's orbit, though it takes 33 years for it to make one revolution around the Sun.
It is Comet 55p -- commonly known as Comet Tempel-Tuttle -- and it is the parent body of the Leonids, a meteor shower that gets its name from its origin in the constellation Leo.
The Leonids provided a mythical show in 1833, with some accounts noting over a hundred thousand meteors streaming through the sky.
This year's, the Leonids peak on November 17 and promise to offer what Space.com predicts will be a "better-than-average display."
It might not be the extraordinary fireworks of 1833, but it will still be a powerful sight in the night sky -- and a reminder that Spaceship Earth occupies just one of the countless paths etched out around the Sun.
GET INVOLVED
- Find out when and where to look for the Leonids
- Calculate the number of meteors visible in your observation area using NASA's Fluxtimator
- Download this month's free night sky map and calendar from Skymaps.com
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- Reclaiming the Night Sky (October 2, 2009)
- The Lost Siblings of the Sun (November 6, 2009)
- Empire of the Sun (August 7, 2009)
- Where Stars Are Born (July 16, 2009)
- Orbiting Saturn, Five Years Later (July 10, 2009)
- Goodbye Ulysses (June 30, 2009)
- An Old Lake on the Red Planet (June 20, 2009)
- It's the End of the World As We Know It (June 12, 2009)
- Getting Closer to the Beginning of Time (May 16, 2009)
- A Possible New World Fit for Life (April 28, 2009)
- Sizing Up the "King of the World" (March 31, 2009)
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