Far from an expert on astronomy, I do try to catch the major meteor showers each year, including the Perseids, in August, and the Leonids, in November. The latter, remnants of the Tempel-Tuttle comet, peak on the nights of November 17-18 and, due to their metallic composition, tend to leave long vapor trails. The Leonids, named for the illusion that they arise from the Constellation of Leo, are especially abundant every 33 years, when the comet has recently crossed Earth's orbit; the shower of 1966 produced thousands of meteors per hour.
This year, a stubborn low, centered over the Midwest, has kept Missouri under a thick overcast, with intermittent fog, cold rain and snow showers. Expected to drift slowly to the east, this weather system should exit our region by the weekend but, by then, the 2009 Leonids will be history.
In fact, I've been unable to observe the Leonids for several years now; whether in Missouri, Colorado or Ohio, the skies have not cooperated. But nature is not in the business of facilitating our plans and, as with many aspects of our lives, luck plays a major role in amateur astronomy.
