By Oakland L. Childers
Colorado Daily
Tuesday, November 17, 1998

As you read this, the Earth is being pummeled by millions of tiny pebbles, the debris left by a comet hurtling around the sun.

Tonight is the second night of the Leonid meteor shower. This annual event is named after the constellation Leo, from which the meteors appear to originate. Each year the Earth passes through a comet’s tail, causing the meteor shower, said Mike Shull, chairman of the astrophysical and planetary sciences department at CU.

"The comet is very small," Shull said, "about the size of a large mountain. But as it nears the sun, it is boiling off debris."

The comet and the particles that become meteors are made of dust and ice, and are about the size of a grain of sand, said Shull. He cornpared the comet to a "dirty snowball hurtling through space.

This year’s Leonid meteor shower will be the most spectacular in 30 years because the Earth is passing through the densest concentration of debris from the comet. Though it will make for a spectacular show on the ground, Shull said, the shower is causing some problems for NASA. Satellites are vulnerable to the meteors, which are traveling at 150,000 mph. To reduce damage to satellites, NASA and the Air Force are turning their satellites away from the incoming pebbles to reduce the surface area being pelted, Shull said.

But if you don't work for NASA, all you have to worry about is getting to a nice, dark place to view the shower. An average of one meteor per minute should be visible in the night sky, said Shull, who recommends getting as far away as possible from the bright lights of Denver when viewing the shower. The show should be pretty spectacular anywhere in the state, though.

"Colorado and Wyoming have some of the darkest skies in the country," said Shull. I would go east of I-25 about 20 miles and north of DIA. The further out the better."

Shull said another good spot from which to view the meteors is on the Peak to Peak highway, between Nederland and Estes Park.

Patient sky watchers may get to see a few bolide meteors, which are larger than the usual objects that explode in the sky, said Shull. And, if watchers look at the larger meteors out of the corners of their eyes, they may see colors, caused by burning nitrogen and oxygen, Shull said.

Those hoping to see many meteors should look toward the southeast, Shull said explaining that the best time to view the shower is between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. Though the heaviest concentration of meteors was Monday night and Tuesday morning, there will still be plenty falling tonight, he said. He also noted that binoculars and telescopes are not necessary to view the meteor shower.