ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Don't worry if you missed out on seeing a shooting star in the meteor shower that happened last night. You'll have another chance to see more tonight, tomorrow night and every night through Nov. 30.
The Leonid meteor shower is happening now, as it does every November when the Earth passes through debris trails from the Tempel-Tuttle comet – a small space object measuring 2.24 miles across, according to NASA.
When pieces of this debris interact with the Earth’s atmosphere they then disintegrate to “create fiery and colorful streaks in the sky,” known as the Leonid meteor shower. One of those was seen above the Gateway Arch Tuesday night and captured by EarthCam:
It takes Tempel-Tuttle 33 years to orbit the sun once and every 33 years there is a Leonid meteor storm rather than a shower, during which it can look like meteors are falling like rain. The last Leonid metoer storm happened in 2002 and it is expected again in 2031.
During storms, there are at least 1,000 meteors per hour.
During a regular shower, there are around 10 to 15. This year’s shower runs from Nov. 6 to Nov. 30.
For the best chance to catch a sight of these meteors, EarthSky recommends getting to a place away from city lights, where most of the stars are visible in the sky. City dwellers can try city, state or national parks.
Most of these comets are spotted after midnight and until dawn.
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