Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

On November 17th, the sky will start to fall over Texas.

04—The Leonid Meteor Shower is a shower that occurs every November.

Anita Cochran, assistant director of the McDonald Observatory, explains this phenomenon.
20—It is a result of the debris left over from the passage of the Comet Temple Tuttle which comes passed the sun and passed the earth every thirty-three years. The earth’s orbit will intercept the orbit of the dust trail that was left when the comet passed the sun.

Those dust particles burning up in the earth’s atmosphere will create this year’s shower.

In 1833, the Leonid Meteor shower rained down thousands of meteors an hour. This caused some people to believe that these meteors signified the end of the world. This year, the shower won’t be as drastic.

21—There are times when we go through, and it’s approximately every thirty three years, when we see a huge storm because we go through the peak of it. We might see hundreds of meteors per hour. In this particular year, the peak of it will occur when it’s daytime in the United States and when people should go out and see it, which is the end of the night – they’ll only be seeing about ten meteors an hour.

Information on where to see the Leonid Shower at passporttotexas.org

That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.