See the Leonids from Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter!

By Chuck George - email 

TUCSON, AZ (University of Arizona) - Bring your blankets, chairs, and binoculars and enjoy the dark skies and alpine setting of Mt. Lemmon during our Leonid Meteor Shower special event, hosted by Adam Block, on November 17th 2009. 

The Leonid meteor shower is notable because on occasion the Earth passes through a particularly dense part of the meteor stream and brings the normally serene night sky to life. 

Of course, a "shooting star", or meteor, is not a star at all, but actually a small chunk of space dust that vaporizes in our atmosphere as it hurtles toward the ground. A meteor shower, like the Leonid shower, occurs when the orbiting Earth crosses the orbit of a past comet and passes through the stream of dust the comet left in its wake. 

As this debris enters the Earth's atmosphere at high velocities, it becomes so hot by friction it can put on quite a light show. Meteors in a shower appear to come from a particular direction, not unlike the perspective of driving through raindrops in your car.

On the night of November 17th many of the meteors will appear to come from the direction of the constellation Leo, and at their peak, it might be possible to see one or more every minute from a dark site like Mt. Lemmon.

In addition to the Leonids, activity from other showers including the Orionids and Geminids will only increase our chances of being dazzled atop Mount Lemmon. Reserve your spot at Skynights with the Leonid Meteor Shower now. 

The entire late afternoon/evening 3:00pm-1:30am is $70 for adults and $35 for children (7-18), and consists of a normal SkyNights program followed by continued telescope use and meteor observing until the early morning hours. 

Also included are a sandwich dinner and late-night snacks, take-home items, and prizes.  Questions and the reservation process can be initiated at our web form, where you should make sure to specify the "SkyNights with the Leonids" program.

All programs are weather permitting.

(All contents copyright © 2009, Arizona Board of Regents.)