NOV 15, 2010 - Leonid Meteor Shower Revealed is especially appropriate in this, the week that the Leonids reach their annual peak intensity. It's been 1,000 years or more that this meteor swarm - debris from Comet Tempel-Tuttle - has lit up the night skies of our home planet during mid-November every year; some years better than others, mind you. If you're up and outside between midnight and dawn, you'll see these beauties at their best during the current apparition. It's said that the greatest meteor swarm in recorded history was the Leonid shower of 1966, when they streaked across the sky at the rate of 40 per second. Don't expect anything that spectacular this time around - more like a dozen "falling stars" an hour, with the greatest number coming during the wee hours of the 17th and 18th - the latter being the date when both Venus and Jupiter come to their direct station points, once more resuming apparent direct motion in the heavens. These are days (and nights) to watch!
