Dust from long ago made Leonid fireballs

Astronomers calculate that the fireballs witnessed early in last November's Leonid meteor shower were the result of dust ejected by Comet Tempel-Tuttle 665 years ago.

References:

Asher, D.J., M.E. Bailey, and V.V. Emel'yanenko. 1999. Resonant meteoroids from Comet Tempel-Tuttle in 1333: The cause of the unexpected Leonid outburst in 1998. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (April 21).

Further Readings:

Cowen, R. 1998. The Leonids are coming! The Leonids are coming! Science News 154(Oct. 31):280.

Sources:

David J. Asher
Armagh Observatory
College Hill
Armagh BT61 9DG
United Kingdom

Mark E. Bailey
Armagh Observatory
College Hill
Armagh BT61 9DG
United Kingdom

Vacheslav V. Emel'yanenko
South Ural University
Department of Theoretical Mechanics
Chelyabinsk 454080
Russia

From Science News, Vol. 155, No. 18, May 1, 1999, p. 277. Copyright © 1999, Science Service.

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