METEOR SHOWER TO BE STUDIED
(N.Z.P.A. Reuter —Copyright) NEW YORK, November 16. Astronomers around the world will scan the skies this week in the hope of seeing the most spectacular display of shooting stars in a generation.
They will be looking for the annual Leonid meteor shower.
The shower in fact appears every year when the earth passes through the Leonid meteors, but only once in 33 years—and then possibly only for a few hours—does it produce its maximum display of celestial fireworks. This is at the point when the earth passes through the shower’s most concentrated point.
The meteors are believed to be the remains of comets which have “grazed” past the sun and disintegrated. They appear to be spread out in a long stream, describing a highly elliptical orbit around the sun. The United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration is sending up two rockets in an attempt to catch some of the meteors and parachute them to earth. The rockets will also carry a collection of experiments for scientists from Britain, France, Israel, Sweden and West Germany as well as the United States.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30911, 18 November 1965, Page 24
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186METEOR SHOWER TO BE STUDIED Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30911, 18 November 1965, Page 24
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