What are the Leonids?
The Leonids consist of debris originating from Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle.
US space agency NASA said: “When comets come around the sun, the dust they emit gradually spreads into a dusty trail around their orbits.
“Every year the Earth passes through these debris trails, which allows the bits to collide with our atmosphere where they disintegrate to create fiery and colourful streaks in the sky.”
Every 33 years, the Leonids produce a meteor storm as the comet makes its closest pass to the Sun, caused by particularly dense debris, producing more than 1,000 meteors per hour.
The extreme meteor shower is not expected until 2031.
The American Meteor Society said in a statement: ”The great Leonid meteor storm of 1833 did more to spawn the study of meteors than any other single event.”
