Each comet is trailed by streams of dust particles. When the earth passes through one of these dust streams, the dust hits our atmosphere at high speed. In a typical good meteor shower, an observer in a dark location may see as many as one meteor per minute, all of which appear to radiate from one zone in the sky. Comet Tempel-Tuttle is followed by several very narrow dust trails, and on the nights of November 18 and 19 the earth will pass through three of them. Because of the early hour, the Observatory will not be open for observation of this event.
City lights obscure faint meteors just as they obscure faint stars.
The general rule is the darker the better. For many, the darkest corner of the backyard will work well. The Leonids will shower down on North America once again, in 2002, when the moon will unfortunately be full. Its bright light will interfere. The next Leonid meteor swarm will not happen until 2033.