Seven Leonids Over Wise Observatory

Astronomy Picture of the Day · 1998-11-24 · NASA (public domain)

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Seven Leonids Over Wise Observatory — APOD for 1998-11-24

More Leonids were visible at some places than others. In Israel, early in the morning of 17 November, it rained meteors though a clear sky. Observers there reported a peak rate for the 1998 Leonid Meteor Shower of about 600 meteors per hour . Visible in the above picture are no fewer than seven Leonid meteors occurring over just a few minutes. ( Can you find them all? ) The dome of the Wise Observatory is visible on the right. The Earth's rotation causes stars to appear as arcs . The 1998 Leonids might be remembered not for their numbers, however, but for the unusually high fraction of bright fireballs . Another eventful Leonid Meteor Shower is forecast for the same time next year.

Astronomy Picture of the Day for 1998-11-24 — image & explanation courtesy of NASA (public domain), mirrored at Tukuk-OS for reading and search convenience.

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