VWWP can be found on the Web here. The annual Leonid meteor shower will peak before dawn on the morning of Nov. 17. The last Leonid storm was in 1966, but it was not visible in most of the United States. Already there have been signs that something unusual is about to happen. In 1995, instead of the usual rate of about 10 meteors per hour, the peak rate was about 40, and last year it was between 50 and 80.
Most meteor showers happen when Earth crosses the orbit of a comet.
It is not a bright comet, but by January it will be visible in telescopes. Particles of dust are released from a comet's nucleus and left behind in space as the comet gets closer to the sun. When Earth plows through this stream of particles, the particles burn up almost instantly by friction with Earth's atmosphere. The resulting heat momentarily causes the air molecules around a dust particle to glow brightly, and we see a meteor. Akwasi B. Assensoh, associate professor of Afro-American studies at Indiana University, recently won the Presidential Award of the Association of Third World Studies for his work in establishing a structure for and improving the status of study into Third World issues.