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The night the stars fell

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Eleanor Imster

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Deborah Byrd

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November 16, 2018

Engraving by Ado.lf Vollmy (1889) — Engraving by Adolf Vollmy (1889)

This famous engraving of the 1833 Leonid meteor shower was produced for the Adventist book Bible Readings for the Home Circle by Adolf Vollmy. It’s based on a painting by Swiss artist Karl Jauslin, which, in turn, was based on a first-person account of the 1833 storm by a minister, Joseph Harvey Waggoner, who saw the 1833 shower on his way from Florida to New Orleans.

In that famous shower, hundreds of thousands of meteors per hour were seen! It was the first recorded meteor storm of modern times. Read more about the 1833 Leonid meteor shower in this post.

This year’s Leonids peak on the mornings of November 17 and 18. Your sky won’t look like this, but the Leonids are a reliable annual shower, plus the moon is out of the way, and bright Venus is in the morning sky, rising shortly before sunup, ready to lighten your day no matter how many meteors you’ve seen. Try watching between midnight and dawn on November 17 and 18, and do get away from city lights.

Expect to see about 10 to 15 Leonid meteors per hour.

Bottom line: Famous engraving of the 1833 Leonid meteor shower.

All you need to know: 2018’s Leonid meteor shower

EarthSky’s meteor shower guide for 2018

The 2019 lunar calendars are here! Order yours before they’re gone. Makes a great gift.

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November 16, 2018

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Eleanor Imster

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About the Author:

Eleanor Imster has helped write and edit EarthSky since 1995. She was an integral part of the award-winning EarthSky radio series almost since it began until it ended in 2013. She and her husband live in Tennessee, where they enjoy guitar playing and singing. They have 2 grown sons.

Deborah Byrd

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About the Author:

Our Editor-in-Chief Deborah Byrd works to keep all the astronomy balls in the air between EarthSky's website, YouTube page and social media platforms. She's the primary editor of our popular daily newsletter and a frequent host of EarthSky livestreams. Deborah created the EarthSky radio series in 1991 and founded EarthSky.org in 1994. Prior to that, she had worked for the University of Texas McDonald Observatory since 1976, and created and produced their Star Date radio series. She has won a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, including having an asteroid named 3505 Byrd in her honor. In 2020, she won the Education Prize from the American Astronomical Society, the largest organization of professional astronomers in North America. A science communicator and educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and a vital tool for the 21st century. "Being an EarthSky editor is like hosting a big global party for cool nature-lovers," she says.