Clouds ruined the party for this young boy, but for some the show was utterly spectacular.© Koen MiskotteThis image is a composition of 33 Leonids captured overnight from Nov. 18 to 19, 2001.
The annual Leonid meteor shower will peak this week, and every year, skywatchers hope to catch stunning displays of ultrafast meteors streak across the sky. This year is no different, but it comes on a special anniversary - the 45th anniversary of the Great Leonid Meteor Storm of 1966.
Forty-five years have come and gone and it still hurts.
In 1966, one of the most stupendous
Leonid meteor displays ever witnessed took place over central and western North America. The Leonids occur every year on or around Nov. 18, when Earth glides through a diaphanous trail of dust
left behind by the comet Tempel-Tuttle. Each year, stargazers are tempted with a drizzle of maybe a dozen ultrafast meteors streaking across the sky every hour.
But, every 33 years or so, a rare and dazzling Leonid storm can occur after the
comet swoops near the sun, closely followed by thicker concentrations of dusty, icy particles no larger than the size of Rice Krispies. Earth then plows straight through the comet's refreshed wake, producing a stupendous meteor display.
1966 was one of those special years. And I missed it!