If astronomers' predictions are correct, sky watchers in many parts of the world will be able to experience one of the most dramatic meteor displays in 35 years next weekend.
"Earth is about to plow through a cloud of space dust that could light up our skies with celestial fireworks," Alan MacRobert, senior editor for Sky and Telescope magazine, said on Thursday.
The Leonid meteors will signal the arrival of fast-moving dust particles shed by comet Tempel-Tuttle, which orbits the sun once every 33 years.
When Earth crosses that orbit in mid-November each year, sky watchers usually see a handful of shooting stars, or a weak meteor "shower."
But three times each century, the Earth crosses the dust stream where it is very dense and when that happens people can see what astronomers call a meteor "storm."
Thousands of meteors are expected to streak across the sky for at least an hour beginning at about 1am in Taiwan on Nov. 19.
The storm may briefly spawn anywhere from several hundred to 1,000 or 2,000 meteors per hour. Because the moon will be new, the phenomena should be especially visible.
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