Leonid Meteor Showers to reach their peak in India

The Leonid Meteor Showers are to reach their peak in India between November 17, 2020 and November 18, 2020. For the year 2020, these showers are active between November 6 and November 30.

What are Leonid Showers?

The Leonids emerge from the comet Tempel-Tuttle. The comet takes 33 years to complete one revolution around the sun. The Leonid meteor showers are bright and are travelling at the speed of 71 km per second. During this year, around 10 to 15 meteors are expected to be seen every hour. The Leonid showers include large meteors than the average meteors.

The meteor showers are usually named after the constellation they come from. Leonids originate from the constellation Leo.

What is a meteor shower?

As the Earth revolves around the sun, it passes through large cosmic debris. These debris are remnants of comets. Comets are frigid chunks of matter. It leaves dirty trails of ice and rock that linger after the comets have passed. When the earth passes through these remnants, they are acted upon earth’s gravity and some begin to fall down towards the earth’s surface. While falling down, they catch fire due to the friction of the earth’s atmosphere. This fireball of the remnants are meteor showers.

There are several meteor showers occurring throughout the year. According to NASA, over 30 meteor showers occur annually. The Perseid Meteor shower occurs in August every year.

Currently Active Meteor Showers

According to the International Meteor Organization, the meteor showers that are currently active are Northern Taurids, Sothern Taurids and Leonids. The Geminids and Ursids meteor showers will occur in December.

Meteor Storm Vs Meteor Shower

When the number of meteors spotted are 1000 per hour, it is said to be meteor storm. When the number of meteors spotted is less than 1000 per hour, it is said to be meteor shower. The last Leonid Meteor storm took place in 2002.

Month: Current Affairs - November, 2020