Europeans and North Americans are favored this year. "We
expect a flurry of meteors over Europe peaking at 04:00 UT
followed by another flurry over North America around 10:30 UT (2:30
a.m. PST or 5:30 a.m. EST)," says Cooke. Sky watchers could
see hundreds to thousands of meteors per hour.

"Try to get away from city lights," he suggests.
"The darker the sky, the more meteors you'll see."

Unfortunately, there's one bright light we can't get
away from this year: the
Moon, which is full on Nov. 19th. Nevertheless, notes Cooke,
"if there are lots of bright Leonids (as there were in 2001)
we should still get a good show." High-altitude observing
sites with clean, dry air suffer least from lunar glare. Cooke
himself plans to watch the Leonids from a mountaintop in Arizona.

Cooke offers this common-sense advice: No matter where you
go to watch the Leonids, take a thermos of hot cocoa and dress
warmly. "It can get cold in November at 3 o'clock in the
morning." In fact, a warm sleeping bag is perfect for meteor
watching. Spread it flat on the ground, crawl inside, and look
up.

"There's no special direction you have to face,"
says Cooke. Leonids can appear anywhere in the sky. "But
don't look toward the Moon," he cautions. "That will
ruin your night vision."

When you see a Leonid, trace its tail backward. It will lead
to the constellation Leo the Lion. "Leonid meteors stream
out of a point in Leo called the radiant," he explains.
"This year the radiant is easy to find because it's near
the bright planet Jupiter (see the sky map below)." Because
of foreshortening, meteors near the radiant appear short and
stubby. Meteors away from the radiant are longer and more eye-catching.

Above: For observers in the northern hemisphere, this
is what the southeastern sky will look like at 3 o'clock in the
morning. The red dot denotes the Leonids radiant. Click
here for a larger sky map.

Leo rises at approximately 11:00 p.m. local time on Monday,
Nov. 18th. You can see Leonids anytime between then and dawn
on Tuesday, but the strongest outbursts should occur on Tuesday
morning at specific times listed in the Science@NASA story "Meteor
Storm Forecast." Check the forecast for a city near
you.

"And finally," says Cooke, "don't forget to
look for earthgrazers." Earthgrazers are disintegrating
meteoroids that fly over the horizon nearly parallel to the atmosphere.
They produce remarkably long and colorful tails. Leonid earthgrazers
will appear mostly during the hour between 11:00 p.m. on Monday,
Nov. 18th, and midnight on Tuesday, Nov. 19th, when Leo is still
low in the sky. "You might not see many earthgrazers because
they're rare," says Cooke. " But they are beautiful,
so it's worth a try!"

Just don't forget: Monday night and Tuesday morning. Those
are the times to watch. "You'll never see anything if you
go out on the wrong day," deadpans Cooke.

Happy meteor hunting from Science@NASA!

Editor's note: Unless a time zone is specifically
mentioned, all times in this story are local. Local time is the
time on your watch where you live.

more information

Meteor
Storm Forecast --
(Science@NASA) NASA scientists have just released new predictions
for the 2002 Leonid meteor storm.