Philippine E-Journals

Leonid Showers

Robert C. Roleda

Discipline: Astronomy

 

Abstract:

The Leonid shower is an annual event associated with the Tempel-Tuttle Comet. As the comet nears the sun, ice evaporates and consequently tiny debris are loosened. The debris are scattered all around the orbit of the comet as they too, orbit around the sun. When Earth crosses the orbit of the comet, these tiny chunks are pulled into the planet, vaporizing on their way to the ground, and leaving streaks of white, green and yellow or red that slowly dissipate like fireworks vapor. Because of the huge number of meteoroids that the comet left behind, quite a number of these fall to earth each year. Not all comets, however, leave debris-rich trails and so there is only a small number of meteor showers on Earth. Fifty to 100 meteors in an hour is not an uncommon event for the Leonids, and because of this, the Leonid showers are always worth watching.