
Leonid Meteor Shower

by Science Photo Library
Title
Leonid Meteor Shower
Artist
Science Photo Library
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
Leonid meteors. Composite image of meteors during the Leonid meteor shower. This annual meteor shower occurs around the 17th November each year. Meteors are streaks of light in the sky caused by the burning up of tiny dust particles in the upper atmosphere as they fall to Earth. This shower is caused by the Earth passing through the stream of debris left in the orbit of the comet Tempel- Tuttle. The comet has a 33-year orbital period, and every 33 years the Leonids peak from their usual rate of around 12 meteors per hour to thousands. This image was taken in 1998, one year before the shower's peak in 1999.
Uploaded
September 24th, 2018
Embed
Share
Similar Subjects
Comments
There are no comments for Leonid Meteor Shower. Click here to post the first comment.