In a ship off the Florida Keys, American Astronomer Andrew Elliott Douglass observes the Leonids meteor shower.
In his journal, Douglass noted that the ‘whole heaven appeared as if illuminated with sky rockets, flying in an infinity of directions, and I was in constant expectation of some of them falling on the ship. They continued until put out by the light of the sun after day-break.’
This journal entry marks the first documentation of a Meteor Shower.
The Leonids meteor shower is a yearly occurrence, significantly intensified every approximately 33 years by the comet ‘Tempel Tuttle’. During the visibility of this specific comet, the Leonids can generate rates of several thousand meteors per hour, illuminating the night sky on a clear evening.
Douglass observed the Leonids shower once more alongside the return of comet Temple Tuttle in 1833, an event recognized as the first systematic study of meteor astronomy.
by David Livingstone
