Time for the Leonid storms again, last one for a long time (2033 or longer for north america).  Last year was the best since 1966, and this year will be better than last year.  Better because more meteors will hit the earth, but maybe not better since last year we didn't have the moon and this year we do.  The moon will prevent you from seeing the dim ones. The Leonid shower is caused by the comet Tempel-Tuttle, which swings around the Sun every 33.2 years and leaves behind a trail of dust and debris. When Earth passes through this stream of material, the small bits -- most no larger than a grain of sand -- burn up in the atmosphere and create shooting stars. The comet is named after Ernst Tempel and Horace Tuttle, who spotted it in 1865 and 1866. The comet is about 2.5 miles in diameter.  As it approaches the sun (and goes around it once every 33 years), some of the ice melts and releases a trail of dust millions of miles long. This year, the peak will occur on Tuesday morning, Nov 19th, between 05:23am and 05:47am EST, with about 10 to 30 per minute (depending on your city lights).  You can still see some the day before and the day after, maybe a dozen per hour. Here is some more info: Forecast: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/09oct_leonidsforecast.htm So every 33 years, there is a new trail created by the comet.  The most recent trail was created in 1998.  And each year, Earth has a chance of passing through one of these trails of dust.  This site shows the path of the Earth against each one of these trails that the comet makes every 33 years.  Click on one of the years to see the figure.  The blue line is Earth's path.  The colored ellipses are the trails.  You can see, for 2002, Earth will pass through the 1767 and 1866 trails.  North America will only be able to see the 1866 trail of debri hitting Earth: http://www.arm.ac.uk/leonid/dustexpl.html Here is a site for general space weather info: http://www.space.com/spacewatch/space_weather.html Here are some meteorite stories: On November 30, 1954, Alabama housewife Ann Hodges was taking a nap on her couch when she was awakened by a 3-pound (1.4-kilogram) meteor that crashed through the roof of her house, bounced off a piece of furniture and struck her in the hip, causing a large bruise. On October 9, 1992, a large fireball was seen streaking over the eastern United States, finally exploding into many pieces. In Peekskill, New York, one of the pieces struck a Chevrolet automobile owned by Michelle Knapp. Knapp was not in the car at the time, but heard the crash and ran out to her driveway to find a hole punched clear through the trunk of her car and a warm 26-pound (12-kilogram) meteorite lying under the vehicle. But things turned out well in the end -- her old and rather run-down automobile instantly became a collector’s item and later sold for tens of thousands of dollars. On June 21, 1994, Jose Martin of Spain was driving with his wife near Madrid when a 3-pound (1.4-kilogram) meteor crashed through his windshield, bent the steering wheel and ended up in the back seat. Martin suffered a broken finger while his wife was uninjured.