UK Disability Resource of Disabled Needs

It is that time of year again for gazing into the night sky.
The night of 17th November sees the return of the Leonid meteor shower.

Meteor showers are created when the Earth (on its merry orbit around the Sun) passes through clouds of dust left over from a passing comet.
The dust particles burn up in the Earths upper atmosphere and that is the "bright streaks" we see in the night sky.

More information about the Lenid Meteor shower can be see here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonids

Information about meteor showers (including how best to view meteor showers) can be seen here:
http://stardate.org/nightsky/meteors/

What they look like in ideal conditions:
http://ct.sakura.ne.jp/~kay/leonid/leonid-best1.jpg

Times of (prospective) peak activity:

In the Observers Handbook of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada,
meteor experts indicate that this year's peak activity should occur on the
morning of Nov 18.

But while Leonid rates are unpredictable, it is unlikely that more than a
dozen meteors per hour will be seen this year during peak activity, at least
for viewer's with dark skies away from cities. Other meteor researchers,
however, have examined Leonid prospects for this year and also suggest
watching for some meteor activity on Nov 21st.

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I missed this but it looks like the next lot will be on December 14th.
I hope I remember.