ENID, OK - The Leonid meteor shower will be most visible this week but will stay with us until the end of the month. This shower can be traced back to the comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle and has put on some real shows over the centuries in the form of intense meteor storms that produce hundreds of visible meteors per hour.
This year, the Leonids could produce around 10-15 meteors per hour at peak on Nov. 17. The Leonids tend to be pretty bright with some persistent trails.
This meteor shower is known for having a storm every 33 years, with the last storm happening in 2002. A meteor storm has significantly more shooting stars than a meteor shower -- at least 1,000 per hour.
To catch any Leonids, the best strategy is to venture out in the early morning pre-dawn hours as close to the showers' respective peaks as possible. Avoid any light pollution if you can, dress appropriately and find a comfortable place to lay back with a clear, wide view of the sky.
Let your eyes adjust and just watch. It's not necessary to focus on a particular area of the sky, but if you can spot the constellations Leo, the Leonids will appear to originate from these parts of the sky and streak outward like spokes on a wheel.
