Leonid meteor shower nears peak

[Bob]

Leonid meteor shower nears peak

The annual Leonid meteor shower could produce a strong outburst this weekend for residents of eastern North America and Western Europe.

A brief surge of activity is expected begin around 11:45 p.m. ET Saturday, November 18. In Europe, that corresponds to early Sunday morning, November 19 at 4:45 GMT. The outburst could last up to two hours.

At the peak, people in these favorable locations could see up to 150 shooting stars per hour, or more than two per minute.

"We expect an outburst of more than 100 Leonids per hour," said Bill Cooke, the head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. Cooke notes that the shooting stars during this peak period are likely to be faint, however, created by very small meteoroid grains.

Don't know how viewable they'll be for our neck of the woods.. It was a couple of years back, I caught one of these things around 2am and out where I live, no street lights etc.. the sky was just absolutely FULL of shooting starts.. an incredible sight.