The Leonid meteor shower peaks Sunday night and should be on full display for Long Islanders as the Earth orbits through the trail of the comet called 55P/Tempel-Tuttle.

The Leonid show peaks each year in mid-November, and this year, from around midnight until dawn, viewers may be able to see as many as 10 "shooting stars" an hour, according to the American Meteor Society.

Meteor showers appear when debris from a comet collides with the Earth’s atmosphere and bursts into flame. The Leonids are among the fastest meteors: they travel at 44 miles per second, according to NASA.

Leonids — so named because they appear to shoot out from the constellation Leo — create a spectacular meteor storm in cycles of about 33 years, most recently in 2002. This year will be a more modest shower rather tha

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