Leonid Meteor Shower a Cosmic Light Show

(CBS)  Star gazers are in paradise.

The Leonid meteor shower reached peak activity over North America in the pre-dawn hours Tuesday but the cosmic light show will continue until Nov. 21, giving dedicated observers or more casual fans the chance to catch a glimpse.

The greatest activity can be seen in Asia - nearly 200 to 300 per hour, Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office told Space.com. America was expected to see 20 to 30 per hour by comparison.

The meteor shower occurs as the Earth slams into remnants of the comet Tempel-Tuttle, which, according to Science.com, passes through the inner solar system every 33 years. The comet's debris, mostly of ice and rocks the size of a grain of sand, is slamming into the Earth's atmosphere at around 160,000 miles per hour, creating a multi-colored light show for skywatchers.

Experts suggest rural areas, away from city or town lights, is optimal for viewing the phenomena. The meteor shower can be seen in the northern hemisphere.

[Djack12]

I live up in northern Minnesota, there is little light pollution here and every year I have had an amazing view of the leonids showers! I decided to setup a couple cameras with live feeds to share my view with others. If you?re interested you can check it out at my website here: http://***********/watch-leonid-meteor-live

[j_libb]

I live in northern mn as well. Went out at 3am and only saw 3. Very dissappointed. I followed your link to watch it and couldnt view it because you have a stupid spam test you have to pass. I attempted to pass one but more and more advertisements kept popping up, great system you have going there!!

[muffinstufr]

Its at times like this that I despise living in a big city. Looking up last night around 2am, it took 45 minutes to see one meteor. Bugger!

[jaydee102]

"rural areas is optimal ..." <sigh> It's not bad enough that journalism in the past 30 years has become a bunch of unverified, underreported, rumor-based entertainment. Now it's no longer even concerned with correct grammar. Send all the high school English teachers packing - the editors have deemed them irrelevent.

[davelkim]

subject verb agreement is dead in the USA. not cool dude

[carli8020]

You spelled "irrelevant" incorrectly at the end of your comment.

[RedWings_ninety_one]

Nothing like space debris to lighten up any evening under the stars.