Media Information
 
 
 
Collection:
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection
Title:
Leonids from Leo
Explanation:
Is Leo leaking? Leo [ http://www.astro.wi…], the famous sky constellation [ http://www.astro.wi…] visible on the left of the above all-sky photograph [ http://www.uniba.sk…], appears to be the source of all the meteors [ http://www.corvus.c…] seen in 1998's Leonids Meteor Shower [ http://leonid.arc.n…]. That Leonids [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] point back to Leo is not a surprise - it is the reason that this November meteor shower [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] is called the Leonids. Sand-sized debris [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] expelled from Comet Tempel-Tuttle [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] follows a well-defined orbit about our Sun, and the part of the orbit that approaches Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] is superposed in front of the constellation Leo. Therefore, when Earth crosses this orbit, the radiant [ http://liftoff.msfc…] point of falling debris [ http://www.aero.org…] appears in Leo. Over 150 meteors [ http://www.nineplan…] can be seen in the above [ http://www.uniba.sk…] four-hour effort. The Leonids Meteor Shower of 2003 [ http://comets.amsme…] is expected to have two peaks, the first three days ago and the second [ http://science.nasa…] a long-duration peak covering much of November 19. Although visible meteor rates [ http://leonid.arc.n…] might approach one per minute, they are predicted [ http://leonid.arc.n…] to be much less than in the previous few years.
Credit and Copyright:
Juraj Toth [ http://center.fmph.…] (Comenius U. Bratislava [ http://www.fmph.uni…]), Modra Observatory [ http://www.uniba.sk…]
facet_when:
1998
facet_when:
2003
facet_where:
Bratislava
facet_where:
Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
facet_where:
Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC)
facet_what:
Earth
facet_what:
Sun
facet_what:
COMETS
facet_what:
Leo
facet_what:
Corvus
facet_when_year:
2003
facet_when_year:
1998
original url:
http://antwrp.gsfc.…
UID:
SPD-APOD-ap031116

Leonids from Leo
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