The most famous depiction of the 1833 meteor storm actually produced in 1889 for the Adventist book Bible Readings for the Home Circle based on a first-person account of the 1833 storm by a minister, Joseph Harvey Waggoner on his way from Florida to New Orleans.

The Leonids ([ˈli.əˌnɪdz] lee-uh-nids) are a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Tempel-Tuttle. The Leonids get their name from the location of their radiant in the constellation Leo: the meteors appear to stream from that point in the sky. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 391 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (499 × 764 pixel, file size: 339 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) This image is in the public domain in the United States. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 391 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (499 × 764 pixel, file size: 339 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) This image is in the public domain in the United States. ... Adventist is also commonly used as an abbreviation for Seventh-day Adventist. ... A meteor shower, some of which are known as a meteor storm or meteor outburst, is a celestial event where a group of meteors are observed to radiate from one point in the sky. ... Comet Hale-Bopp Comet West For other uses, see Comet (disambiguation). ... Comet Tempel-Tuttle (formally designated as 55P/Tempel-Tuttle) was independently discovered by Ernst Tempel on December 19, 1865 and by Horace Parnell Tuttle on January 6, 1866. ... The radiant or apparent radiant of a meteor shower is the point in the sky that (to a planetary observer) meteors appear to originate from. ... This article is about the star grouping. ... Leo (IPA: , Latin: , symbol , ) is a constellation of the zodiac. ... For other uses, see Sky (disambiguation). ...

Meteor shower

The meteor shower is visible every year around November 17, plus or minus a week, when the Earth moves through the meteoroid stream of particles left from the passages of the comet. The stream comprises solid particles, known as meteoroids, ejected by the comet as its frozen gases evaporate under the heat of the Sun which begins to warm the comet as it comes within the orbit of Jupiter. A typical particle is no bigger than fine dust. The main source of light of a meteor is caused by the air molecules ramming the meteoroid, which fragments and atomizes the dust [1], and the resulting spray of microscopic debris collides with individual atoms of the atmosphere which then cool by glowing (not by friction as commonly thought). Larger particles leave a stream of smaller particles and form a bolide or fireball, which can leave a glowing trail in the atmosphere. Leonids in particular are well known for having such bright meteors. 17 November is also the name of a Marxist group in Greece, coinciding with the anniversary of the Athens Polytechnic uprising. ... This article is about Earth as a planet. ... “Meteor” redirects here. ... Sol redirects here. ... For other uses, see Jupiter (disambiguation). ... Photo of a burst of meteors with extended exposure time A meteor is the visible path of a meteoroid that enters the Earths (or another bodys) atmosphere, commonly called a shooting star or falling star. ... The term bolide (from the Greek βολις, bolis, missile) can refer to either an extraterrestrial body that collides with the Earth, or to an exceptionally bright, fireball-like meteor regardless of whether it ultimately impacts the surface. ... Look up fireball in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

The passage of the comet leaves these meteoroid particles distributed in similar orbits to the comet itself and the average peak of activity, when the Earth passes the middle of the loose clouds of particles, is November 17. In most years the rate at which meteors are likely to be seen is not great - one meteor every two or more minutes. However, in addition to the random distribution of particles some can be shepherded by gravitational and radiation influences and form some clumping of orbits of the meteoroids. These are not trains of particles - one lined up behind the other. These are places where the orbits of particles nearly meet though at other parts of their orbits they may be far apart. When such a place intersects with the passage of the Earth a meteor storm results and counts can far exceed both background levels of meteors (of about one per hour) and of even the strongest regular meteor shower (of about one per minute.) ... 17 November is also the name of a Marxist group in Greece, coinciding with the anniversary of the Athens Polytechnic uprising. ... In astronomy, the Zenithal Hourly Rate (ZHR) of a meteor shower is the number of meteors an observer would see in one hour under a clear, dark sky (limiting apparent magnitude of 6. ... The word probability derives from the Latin probare (to prove, or to test). ...

History

Woodcut print depicts the shower as seen at Niagara Falls, New York. Mechanics' Magazine said this illustration was made by an editor named Pickering "who witnessed the scene."

The Leonids are famous because their meteor showers, or storms, can be, and have been in a few cases, among the most spectacular. Because of the superlative storm of 1833 and the recent developments in scientific thought the Leonids have had a major effect on the development of the scientific study of meteors which had previously been thought to be atmospheric phenomena. The meteor storm of 1833 was of truly superlative strength. One estimate is over one hundred thousand meteors an hour[2], but another, done as the storm abated, estimated in excess of two hundred thousand meteors an hour[3] over the entire region of North America east of the Rocky Mountains. It was marked by the Native Americans, slaves and owners, and many others. It was, in a word, unignorable. Many thought it was the end of the world. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... This article is about the people indigenous to the United States. ... The Buxton Memorial Fountain, celebrating the emancipation of slaves in the British Empire in 1834, London. ...

Other great Leonid storms were seen in 1866 and 1867. When the storms failed to return in 1899, it was generally thought that the dust had moved on and storms were a thing of the past. Then, in 1966 a spectacular storm was seen over the Americas. Leading up to the 1998 return, an airborne observing campaign was organized to mobilize modern observing techniques by Peter Jenniskens at NASA Ames Research Center. This resulted in spectacular footage from the 1999, 2001 and 2002 storms. Initially, the exact location of the dust was unknown. A graph published in Sky and Telescope adapted from Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle and the Leonid Meteors(1996, see p.6) shows relative positions of the Earth and Comet and marks where Earth encountered dense dust. This showed basically that the particles are behind and outside the path of the comet, but paths resulting in powerful storms were very near paths of nearly no activity. The work of David Asher, Armagh Observatory and Robert H. McNaught, Siding Spring Observatory, and independently that by Esko Lyytinen of Finland, following on from research by Kondrat'eva, Reznikov and colleagues at Kazan, is generally considered the breakthrough in modern analysis of meteor storms. Whereas previously it was hazardous to guess if there would be a storm or little activity, the predictions of Asher and McNaught timed bursts in activity down to five minutes, although the relative brightness of the meteors is still not understood. The double spikes in Leonid activity in 2001 and in 2002 were due to the passage of the comet's dust ejected in 1767 and 1866.[4] The 1833 storm was not due to the recent passage of the comet, but from a direct hit with the 1800 dust [5] and the 1966 storm was from the 1899 passage of the comet.[6] Examples of other streams accounting for spikes in activity include the 2004 June Bootids. Peter Jenniskens has published predictions for the next 50 years.^[1] Meteor astronomer Dr. Peter Jenniskens (b. ... Sky & Telescope is a monthly magazine providing articles and information on all aspects of astronomy, space exploration, telescope equipment, and amateur telescope making and use. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Armagh Observatory is a modern astronomical research institute with a rich heritage, based in Armagh, Northern Ireland. ... Robert H. McNaught is an Australian astronomer at the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics of the Australian National University. ... The Anglo-Australian Telescope at Siding Spring Observatory Siding Spring Observatory near Coonabarabran, Australia, part of the Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics (RSAA) at the Australian National University (ANU), incorporates the Anglo-Australian Telescope along with a collection of other telescopes owned by the Australian National University, the University of... Kazan State University is located in Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia. ... Meteor astronomer Dr. Peter Jenniskens (b. ...

However, a close encounter with Jupiter is expected to perturb the comet's path, and many streams, making storms of historic magnitude unlikely for many decades. For other uses, see Jupiter (disambiguation). ...

See also

• Meteor showers
• List of meteor showers
• Stars Fell on Alabama, based on the 1833 Leonid shower

A meteor shower, some of which are known as a meteor storm or meteor outburst, is a celestial event where a group of meteors are observed to radiate from one point in the sky. ... Meteor showers ALPO meteor showers list SPA meteor showers list International Meteor Organization 2006 meteor shower calendar (Pdf) Categories: | ... The Current Alabama License Plate Stars Fell on Alabama is the title of a 1934 jazz standard composed by Frank Perkins with lyrics by Mitchell Parish. ...

References

External links

• Leonid History by Gary W. Kronk
• Leonid dust trails by David Asher
• The Great Leonid Meteor Storm of 1833. A first-hand account by Elder Samuel Rogers
• The Discovery of the Perseid Meteors (after the Leonids and) Prior to 1837, nobody realized the Perseids were an annual event, by Mark Littmann
• The Night the Stars Fell My Search for Amanda Young a slave narrative.
• Winter Counts The Native Voice By Lise Balk King
• Lunar Leonids: Encounters of the Moon with Leonid dust trails by Robert H. McNaught
• Brilliant Leonid storm likely fodder for later Lincoln speech by Jim Vertuno
• NASA: Background facts on meteors and meteor showers
• NASA: Estimate the best viewing times for your part of the world
• Science@NASA: Leonids 2006
• How to hear the Leonid Meteor Shower
• Observatorio ARVAL - The Leonid Meteors