Meteor Shower Of 1833

The leonids are famous because their meteor showers or storms can be among the most spectacular.

Meteor shower of 1833. The leonids an annual meteor shower that yields about a dozen meteors per hour generated tens of thousands of meteors per hour in 1833. After observing the comet for several weeks an orbit was calculated. Approximately every 33 years the leonid shower produces a meteor storm peaking at rates of thousands of meteors per hour.

Prior to this event meteors were thought to be an atmospheric phenomena. John sharp reports on a contamporary account from the diary of michael shiner nov. It frightened the people half to death 1866 meteors and comets ernst tempel and horace tuttle independently discover a dim comet.

It s based on a painting by swiss artist karl. Leonid storms gave birth to the term meteor shower when it was first realised that during the november 1833 storm the meteors radiated from near the star gamma leonis. Because of the storm of 1833 and the recent developments in scientific thought of the time see for example the identification of halley s comet the leonids have had a major effect on the development of the scientific study of meteors which had previously been thought to be atmospheric phenomena.

It was the november meteor shower we now call the leonids but at the time no one knew what caused the display or where meteors came from. The word meteor is derived from greek as meaning high in the sky and of course is also the basis for the word meteorology. The meteors fell from the elements the 12 of november 1833 on thursday in washington.

No other meteor shower is aligned close enough to earth s orbit to cause a meteor storm as described in the 1833 account. The last leonid storms were in 1999 2001 two and 2002 two. The image above shows a depiction of the great leonids meteor storm that occurred on november 13th 1833 in which more than 72 000 meteors per hour fell to earth and which according to one observer caused the night sky to radiate so bright with falling stars that people were awakened believing that their house was on fire.

The astronomer denison olmsted was awakened by neighbors on november 13 1833 and walked into the cold november night to see a sky filled with shooting stars 72 000 or more per hour. This meteor shower occurred on the 13th of november 1833. Though meteor showers are common no one predicted the explosion of shooting stars that illuminated the night sky on november 12 1833.