Earth moves through the meteoroid stream of particles left from the passages of a comet. The stream comprises solid particles, known asmeteoroids, ejected by the comet as its frozen gases evaporate under the heat of the Sun when it is close enough – typically closer than Jupiter's orbit.The Leonids are a fast moving stream which encounter the path of Earth and impact at 72 km/s. Larger Leonids which are about 10 mm across have a mass of half a gram and are known for generating bright (apparent magnitude -1.5) meteors. An annual Leonid shower may deposit 12 or 13 tons of particles across the entire planet.
Have you seen any this year? We'd love to hear from you, please email us.
Have you seen any this year? We'd love to hear from you, please email us.