The Leonid meteor shower peaks next week. Here's what to expect

Probably the most famous of the annual meteor showers will soon be reaching its maximum: The Leonids. These ultrafast meteors are expected to be at their best for North American on Tuesday morning (Nov. 18).

The Leonid meteor shower are known for producing some of the most amazing meteor displays in the annals of astronomy. Most notable are meteor storms such as in 1799, 1833 and 1966 when meteor rates of tens of thousands per hour were observed. More recently, in 1999, 2001 and 2002, lesser Leonid displays of up "only" a few thousand meteors per hour took place.

Unfortunately, the negative impact of those turn-of-the-century Leonid showers is that many stargazers were given the impression that they can expect a similar occurrence of celestial fireworks from the Leonids every year. So, i