Invite Your Friends for a Shower Party Tonight, I Dare You!
If you’re up around 1 A.M. Tuesday morning or anytime from then until dawn, you might as well wander outside and catch one of the best, and easiest to find, meteor showers of the year. This month shower, called the Leonids because they seem to emanate from the constellation Leo, won’t be as spectacular as in years past (at least not in terms of frequency of meteors) but it should still be a good show. If you need a hand finding Leo, this should help.
My experience with watching meteor showers is that the Leonids tend to have more fireballs and bolides (meteors that explode in flight) than the other showers. I really don’t know if that’s the case or not, but I’ve always associated the Leonids with fireballs. Take that with a grain of salt, though. I don’t have any actual evidence behind it (though this article suggests I’m right but this one doesn’t).
By the way, stargazing parties can be an awful lot of fun. Just keep the flashlights to a minimum and have a warming drink or two at hand.
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Category: Out in the Black
