American Meteor Society
Leonids
In mid-November, spectacular meteors will streak through the night sky as the Leonid meteor shower hits Earth once again. This annual meteor shower is responsible for some of the most intense meteor storms in history. The 1966 Leonids were certainly the greatest meteor shower in recorded history as it produced rates as high as 40 meteors per SECOND! We celebrate this year the 50th anniversary of this unforgettable event.
The Leonids are associated with the comet Tempel–Tuttle (55P). Earth moves through the meteoroid stream of particles left from the passages of this comet every year in November. The Leonids are a fast moving stream which encounter the path of Earth and impact at 72 km/s. Larger Leonids which are about 10 mm across have a mass of half a gram and are known for generating very bright meteors. An annual Leonid shower may deposit 12 or 13 tons of particles across the entire planet. The Leonids get their name from the location of their radiant in the constellation Leo: the meteors appear to radiate from that point in the sky.
The Leonids had been relatively quiet for 100 years between 1866 and 1966. Astronomers predicted an intense display in 1899 and when they failed to impress that year the public scorned astronomers for many years. It was not until the bright comets of 1910 did the public look again favorably on astronomers.
The sky was raining meteors
In Journal of the British Astronomical Association, Vol. 77, pp.89-93, Denis Milon, Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers remembers:
James W. Young was one of the few people who photographed this event. Young observed the shower from the Table Mountain Observatory, operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), located just west of the town of Wrightwood, California at an elevation of 7500 feet. Young says:
Alan Duniven witnessed the storm from Texas:
Panhandle, near McLean. We apparently came out at about the peak time as approximately 50 meteors per second were radiating from one area of the sky at a very high angle. It appeared much like a sparkler from the 4th of July except there was a small vacant hole from which they radiated out.
Next one?
In “Leonid predictions for the period 2001-2100“, WGN, Journal of the International Meteor Organization, 35 (1): 5–12, Mikhail Maslov explains that a number of outbursts are expected in 2034 and 2035. It will be quite strong, and considering the proximity of comet Tempel–Tuttle, activity at 18:00UT on November 17th should reach a ZHR (the rate a meteor shower would produce if seen by an observer with a clear, dark sky, and with the radiant at the zenith) of 40-50 meteors. Maslov predicts a ZHR of 150-250 meteors on november 18th this year and a ZHR of 300-400 meteors on november 19th. For comparison, the ZHR for this year and next year should be around 10…
I was born in Clearwater Florida July 26th, 1966 underneath an orange sky. My life was inextricably ricocheted on a blessed trajectory. Happy anniversary Leonie showers we are soon to be 51.
Good for you Brian having been born on the Leonid comet passing earth. I saw in great awe the LEONID so huge, over the southern skies in the Philippines. It looked a steady giant broom in hanging in the dark sky. As I saw it, it was not moving. I was just 10 years old that time… what a CREATION of the Most High !!! And I have not seen anything like that again. Hope to see another comet one day in my lifetime.
My paternal grandfather took me to a high and clear place to witness the even in 1966, we lived in Guadalajara, Mexico. I was about to turn 9 years old. I have never forgotten the brightness and the excitement I felt. My grandfather placed me in his shoulders so that I could better see this wonderful event. I know that it was about 4:00 am and we stayed until the sunlight ended the show. I will never forget it and it is always a great reminder of the many wonderful things I experienced with my adventurous grandfather. He thought me so much. I came to the US later and have not seen anything so spectacular.
I witnessed the 1966 event from Excelsior, Minnesota. I woke up in the early morning hours, maybe 2 o’clock AM. I just happened to look out the window and saw meteors showering down, but my first thought in my sleepy 11 year old mind was that we were being invaded by flying saucers. I woke up my younger brother Don in the bunk bed above me and told him to wake up because there were flying saucers coming down from the sky. It didn’t take too long before we realized this was not men from Mars. Amazing that we didn’t know this was coming, but I randomly awoke to see it. I saw some of them appear to come down right in my neighborhood. One against the roof of a neighbors house. Then one right in my back yard, which I found the next day and kept for many years.
This is an incredible memory.
Amazing. I hope this year’s a good one. I was born 7-26-66 but was the Leonid meteor shower in Nov?
Thank you for this. information, I was born 10-22-1966.
My mom reported seeing shooting stars that appeared to be going back up into the sky around this same time (1960s). She says she was at her grandparents house in Mariposa, California. Would this meteor shower give the appearance that the stars were going back up to the sky?
Tina and All,
As seen from the surface of the earth, meteors can travel in any direction including upwards. Of course they are not really traveling upwards as that is just our perspective as seen from the ground.
Robert Lunsford
I was born in a small town in the west Texas panhandle 11-17-66. My mom always told me a beautiful story of when I was born it was RAINING STARS. She said it was both brilliant and beautiful, while at the same time frightening for everyone who was witnessing the event. She described it as a dome and stars were coming down like brilliant rain. She said many thought the world was ending. I looked it up much later and learned there was a tremendous meteor shower called the Leonids that night. I love and cherish this story. I have been fascinated by stars and space my whole life.
Rosie I was born midnight November 18, 1966 as it was going on. My dad witnessed it and growing up he would tell me that the sky’s were illuminated by a shower of stars announcing my birth!! Lol I loved that story growing up but way later in my 30’s he told me he thought the world was ending and was scared!! Lol he almost named me Estrella ✨ (Star) but mom said No! My name is Dalila
I was born in Massachusetts, November 13, 1966. I’m looking for show activity that week! I had no idea this phenomena occurred as we entered the world-I wish I knew earlier!
Your story is awesome I’m thinking it would have been great if they had named you star like your father had said. But your Dane is still a very nice name
I was at Fort Sill OK going thru Officer Candidate School and at Reveille one morning we were awakened to see the Sky Falling. It was about 5:00AM. It was a perfect moonless morning with no light pollution from a large city. They say that there was an average of 40 shooting stars a SECOND. I disagree. More like 400 per Second! The sky was alive! This amazing event continued as the sun rose. You could still make out dozens a second. I set my alarm for 1:00AM for the Leonids, but being in the LA area I’m lucky to see one shooting star in 10 minutes. However if there is a repeat of the 1966 event I will be waking everybody on my contact list.
I was 8 years old and was with my family at a drive-in movie looking West. I could not tell you the name of the movie, the real show started in the sky above the screen. I wound up sitting on top of the car watching thousands of meteors raining down from the sky. It was the most awesome sight I have ever seen in the starry skies above. It was absolutely beautiful and amazing to behold, I will never forget THAT show. They fell like raindrops through the stars.
I was 6 years old and my family had just moved into a new country house located in the piney woods of East Texas. I was terrified of the dark because of coyotes and wolves which howled near my bedroom window. Alas, I was in a deep sleep when the telephones rang out a piercing cry into the night. My grandmother had gone outside at 3:00 AM to retrieve something from her car. She never remembered what caused her to do this. She rang my parents. My mother went running down the hallway to awaken my three sisters and me. My father passed my bedroom door and I asked him if the house was on fire. “No son, the sky is falling. Let’s go look at it.” I remembered the story my teacher read about Henny Penny and I wanted to see the sky fall. We went out into the cold November morning and indeed the sky appeared to be falling. Stars darted across the sky in every direction. It appeared as though one million sparklers a minute were shooting in all directions. A fireball would illuminate the sky every so often. Strangely, there was complete utter silence as every living being stopped to watch the phenomenon. It has burned deep into my memory and I know any shower I see in the future will pale far below comparison. My goal is to live to see the next one in 2033 or 2034 and travel to where the best vantage point will be. If I have a last memory in life before then, I’m sure it will be remembering that little boy on a cold November morning watching the sky fall.
Hi David! I too was 6 years old when this event occurred. Our neighbors called our house and said to GO OUTSIDE! I can still see it in my mind. Like thousands of sparklers raining down! We lived in Victoria TX at the time.. So amazing!
Approximately 15 years ago I witnessed a meteor shower that was, and probably will always be the most amazing thing I have ever seen. Many were so close I could HEAR them as they smoked across the sky. Many also exploded into two or more smoking pieces as I watched. I saw this by accident as I took a night walk one cold night at my friend’s farm. I wish I had some clue as to which shower it was.
Pete and All,
That sounds like the Leonid storm of 2001. North America and eastern Asia were the prime locations to see that display.
While attending basic training in November 1966 at Ft. Leonard Wood, Mo. we experienced the one of the most stupendous Leonid meteor displays ever witnessed took place over central and western North America.
The entire Army base was put on RED ALERT. No one at the time knew what was happening. Absolutely the most amazing thing I have ever seen.
I was at Ft Leonard Wood that morning too, morning roll call, which sort of went on, no one wanted to miss the show. Collective ” Oohs and Aahs ” coming from all over the base sounding like strange new winds coming from thousands of young baby boomers. Most amazing for me too.
I was 9 and my sister was 12 at the time and we were living on Dyess AFB in Abilene, Texas. Our Mom went out to get the paper around 4am and came back in and got my Dad. They immediately woke us up and had us come out in the front yard to witness this spectacular light show. I will NEVER forget the extreme beauty and the sense of awe that I felt as we stood in our pajamas looking skyward. I am so thankful that I got to see it. WOW
My mom woke me (as I recall, my siblings didn’t get out of bed) at the age of 11 in Seminole TX, to come view something amazing outside. It truly looked as every star in the sky was falling! I have viewed every meteor shower I could since that time, hoping to recapture that feeling. I only just learned that it won’t happen like that again for quite a while! My young mother is now 88, and after another disappointing meteor shower show last night, I thanked her profusely for waking me up to witness the 1966 Leonid Meteor Shower…the most incredible event I will ever see.
Incredible
I was sitting in an open jeep on a hillside in S Korea. I’m eighty seven years old and it still seems like last night.
I saw on TV today that an upcoming meteorite event may be visible in the Atlanta area. It reminded me of November 1966 when I was in basic training/tech school at Amarillo AFB near Amarillo Texas. We had to march about 3 miles to our classroom in the middle of nowhere at some ungodly hour of the morning the night of the storm. There could be no better place to see such a show than the Texas panhandle. It was clear, cold and the wind was freezing us; but it was Probably the most memorable things I have ever witnessed and I am 77 and seen a lot of things; including Hank Aaron break Ruth’s record. At one point they were too numerous to count or even guess the number. I never really thought about discovering anything about it until the TV broadcast jogged my mind. So 54 years later I finally realize that what I saw was really a wonderful thing and I am very fortunate to have been at the right place at the right time. I never thought I would say that about Amarillo Texas.
Dad woke us up around 3 AM in Houston. We saw a few, then more, and within an hour all we saw was an umbrella of meteors. I was 12 years old at the time, so I didn’t appreciate the event like I would today. It did get me started in astronomy as a hobby. From what I’ve read, the 1966 shower was the in most impressive in recorded history. Only in 1833 was there one even close. The most I’ve counted in any typical shower since is perhaps 3 or 4 an hour. The Leonids in 1999-2000 paled in comparison to 1966, though impressive none the less.
My dad and mom were drinking coffee before sunrise listening to the local farm and ranch radio station before he had to go to work. The announcers were talking about the meteor shower. They came in and woke me and my brother. We went outside to see the most amazing thing. The sky was illuminated with meteors. The paper boy was riding his bike throwing papers as we watched. All at once there was a huge meteor streaking across the sky which lit up the neighborhood like daytime. The paper boy crashed his bike and jumped up saying wow did you see that. If I live to be 100 years old I will never forget it. My brother has passed since then but we never talked to anyone else who saw this. I consider myself very lucky to have witnessed this event. Wish my children and grandchildren could experience such an event.
Thank you for sharing this story.
My brother and i were out checking traps at about 5:30am on that cold dark morning in Sw Iowa. We saw a bright flash of light which lit up the sky and caused us to look up. What we saw was totally frightening! The whole seemed to be filled w falling stars w flashes of light every few minutes. I was 14 and my brother was12 and we both thought the emd of the world was here! We hurried home and told our mother then wemt out to help Dad w chores on the farm. When we came in to eat before school Mom told us that she had heard on WHO in DesMoines about a Meteor shower and there were no reported sightings in Iowa due to cloud cover. She called the station and a reporter interviewed me over the phone. At school that morning a few classmates mentioned that they had jeard me on the “morming news”. An event my brother and I will never forget!
The official details of the April 25th, 1966 meteor were at great odds with what the actual witnesses described. According to authorities, the meteor appeared over the Atlantic Ocean off the mid-Atlantic states. It traveled almost directly north, crossing Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, and finally entering Canadian air space where it descended and ether blew up over Quebec or crashed somewhere in the wilderness, never to be found.
Witnesses described an object that flew 1,000 feet to one mile above the Earth, changed directions, and was seen over the span of two + hours before disappearing into Canada.
The Great “Meteor” of 1966 occurred barely 5 months after a similar object crashed outside of Kecksburg, PA. You can read about the Great Meteor in the small book “A Second Kecksburg” available through Amazon.
Hi Jack,
I think you are a bit confused by comparing the great meteor of 1966 with the Leonid storm of that year. These are two completely different events. The fireball occurred on April 25th as you stated. The meteor storm occurred on November 17th. They have nothing to do with each other than sharing the same year of occurrence. Anyway, your details of the fireball are interesting and I appreciate you sharing them with us.
I was nine years old in November 1966. My parents and I lived in St. John, Kansas, which is pretty much right in the middle of the state. They woke me up, probably around 4:00 am, and told me to go outside and look at the sky. I looked almost straight up and there were flashes in the sky everywhere I looked, all happening simultaneously. It was punctuation marks in the sky — dashes, hyphens, commas, parentheses. There were little bursts of light, too, and sometimes I could see a shooting star break apart and leave multiple trails. I think of this event every time I hear a meteorologist on TV talk about an upcoming meteor shower. I often go look, but I’m always disappointed because I don’t think I’ll ever see any night sky phenomenon like that meteor shower when I was nine
We had just moved to Columbus, OH, from Portland, OR where I had become the District Mgr of 3 States fro Yamaha Motorcycles, guess what I raced. Being from Fairbanks, Alaska, “What’s up THERE is a big thing in our night skies”. so I’m laying out on a blanket and going crazy. I never dreamed of seeing what occurred. If you try to tell someone who wasn’t there, they end up saying something like, “Hey, man, you’ve got ta give up drinking that stuff, it’s really doing something to you” LOL
I was 10 when it occurred over south texas. Speculator show, meteors were crashing into each other and lighting up the sky green. I never knew what it was until I heard of the current one happening tonight. Google is a good thing to have.
I was 14 years old in 1966. I had a morning paper route, and what an incredible morning it was during the Leonid meteor shower. Without a doubt it was the most spectacular event I have ever witnessed. I finished my route later than usual that day!