The Leonid meteor shower peaks in intensity and regularity tonight, in the early morning before dawn.
At about 3am Saturday morning, stargazers with clear skies and an unobstructed view may be able to see as many as 15 to 20 shooting stars per hour.
The Leonids are so named because they seem to come from the constellation Leo. They are known for being less numerous than the better-known Perseids, in August, but they are often brighter, and sometimes leave faint trails behind.
The moon will be a crescent, and likely not in the sky when the shower peaks, so viewing will be good if watchers can get away from light pollution in cities, and as long as the weather cooperates and doesn't cloud up.
Ideally, stargazers should travel to a rural area away from artificial lights and trees. Reclining in a lawn chair or lying down in a sleeping bag gives the best view of the entire sky.
The Leonids occur when debris from comet Tempel-Tuttel, which orbits the sun every 33 years, hits the earth's atmosphere as the planet travels through the debris trail.
The extreme friction between the debris, usually small bits of rock or ice, and air molecules in the atmosphere heats up the particles until they burn up, leaving a phosphorescent trail behind as they speed to they doom and fizzle out.
Ten to 15 tons of debris will impact the earth's atmosphere during the shower, but very little of it will actually make it to the surface.
If the sky is cloudy, stargazers will have another chance to see meteors, when the Geminid shower arrives in December.
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