Keystone Weekly
volume 4, issue 9        November 18, 2002

This week's Key Points: *Web Pick of the Week* and *Awesome Science!*
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In anticipation of the upcoming Leonid meteor showers (discussed below in Awesome Science!), this could be a fun time to share this site with your students or simply look at it yourself and file it away for future use.

StarChild, designed by NASA, offers great explanatory information for young stargazers, and conveniently offers two parallel text versions for more and less advanced readers. The text is filled with good vocabulary words that are linked to a reading level-appropriate glossary. Did you know that the word "astronaut" means "star sailor" in Latin? You find this fact and more on the site, which discusses the solar system, the universe, astronauts, space travel, space wardrobes, space probes, and the Hubble Space Telescope.

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It's that time of year again when the Earth crosses the path of debris and material left behind by the comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle and treats us to a sky full of wonder, if we can rouse ourselves to get out of bed extremely early.

This year, the Leonid meteor shower peaks from the evening hours of Monday, November 18 (that's today!) through the early morning hours of Tuesday, November 19. Scientists are predicting that peak viewing for North America will be about 5:30 a.m. on the 19th. Unfortunately, a full moon may hinder viewing of some of the fainter meteors, but it'd still be worth a look if the skies are clear. Good luck and dress warmly!

See the link above to access much more detail about where and when you can best see the meteor shower.

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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 9819641.
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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