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• Tuesday, Nov 17, 2009 @ 14:21:55 PM
• Written by Glenn Steinbaum
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If you missed last night's debut of the Leonid Meteor Shower, have no fear. Pieces will be flying through the sky of North America all week, most likely until Saturday, November 21st. The shower reached it's peak last night just before dawn, with some observers seeing 20 to 30 meteors an hour.

This shower is happening because our planet is colliding with fragments of the comet Tempel-Tuttle, which glides through the inner solar system every 33 years. The multi-colored glow you see is a result of the comet's debris colliding with the Earth's atmosphere at 160,000 miles per hour! The debris is mostly ice and rocks (although the rocks are about as big as a single grain of sand).

Gotta love astronomy. Such cool stuff. Hope you ski towners and mountain towners get clear views!!

photo courtesy of cbsnews.com

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