Want To See Meteor Showers? Set Your Alarm

The early morning hours of Sunday should yield a spectacular meteor show in North America, perhaps the greatest number of shooting stars per hour in the past 35 years.

The Leonid meteor shower could produce between 800 and 4,000 shooting stars per hour in North America, according to various scientific forecasts. While all of the United States should have a chance to see an above-average number of meteors, the eastern third of the country has the best chance of high meteor rates.

The Leonids run from Wednesday through Nov. 21 and will peak in the early morning on Sunday. The best viewing in North America will occur at 4:55 a.m. EST, but meteor showers will be viewable before and after the peak viewing time.

"What's coming on Nov. 18 could be the biggest event since 1966," said Bill Cooke of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.

Why Do We See Shooting Stars or Meteors?

In that year, North Americans enjoyed a Leonid storm numbering 100,000 shooting stars per hour. NASA defines a meteor storm as 1,000 or more shooting stars per hour.

On a typical night, a shooting star can be seen every 10 to 15 minutes.

The explanation of meteor showers can be compared to the common experience of a bug hitting a car windshield and making a splatter: Earth's atmosphere is the windshield, and the bugs are dust clouds produced by comets. When the two collide, you get a shower of meteors, also known as shooting stars.

The annual Leonid meteor showers are produced when the Earth's atmoshphere collides with dust from the comet Tempel-Tuttle. This year, Earth will be plowing into comet clouds that are relatively new -- dust shed in 1699, 1766 and 1866 -- and which are richer in small meteoroids.

No special equipment is needed to view the meteor showers. In fact, the shooting stars are moving so fast that they typically cannot be viewed in telescopes or binoculars.

Tips For Viewing Leonid Showers

Experts recommend the following:

• Find a viewing location free of light pollution.
• Observe the sky from a reclining-type chair so that you can easily keep your gaze in the darkest portions of the sky.
• Look at about a 50 degree or more angle above the horizon.
• Look up. The direction is not that critical because the meteors will be scattered throughout the sky.
• Don't be too surprised if the show is a dud. For any given broad area of the Earth, there is a small chance of a spectacular meteor storm to occur for a brief time. For a larger portion of the planet, there is a good chance of a pretty ho-hum, minor shower.