If you are a sky watcher, there is good news for you! Keep a watch on the night sky for next couple of days; and you may discover some celestial fireworks welcoming you there. Scientists have predicted that much talked about space element Leonid meteor is likely to lit up on Monday and may be observed in the sky up to Tuesday.

Even if you do not have a telescope, please do not hesitate to see up. Professional astronomers say naked eye is the best instrument to watch a meteor. With your open eyes, you can see wider depth of field than seeing through the narrow lens of a telescope. Astronomers of Chapel Hill Astronomical and Observational Society encourage people watching the sky with their naked eyes than using any instrument. Stewart-Taylor of the Chapel Hill said, “The meteors move across the sky. It does not take any kind of equipment to observe them. You take a sleeping bag or lawn chair, go outside and look up.”

According to N. Rathnashree, director of Nehru Planetarium, Delhi, there will be about 15 to 20 shooting meteors every hour in the sky of capital for the next two days. “People can watch for the meteor showers during the early hours Monday. There will be fireballs in the sky,” she said. “A meteor is commonly called a shooting star. These shooting stars can be seen on any night, but when the number of meteors is large, it is called a meteor shower,” she added.

As you may encounter little fog these days in the heart of capital, so it is advisable to move to the outskirts of Delhi to have a clear sky to witness the celestial event. “The meteor showers last for just a fraction of seconds before they are gone. Better keep a close look at the sky for the beautiful show,” Rathnashree said.

Whenever our earth crosses any cometary orbit, there exist bright chances of Meteor showers as a consequent of stream of debris that come in to existence whenever a comet moves about its orbit. A comet naming Tempel-Tuttle has given birth to the Leonid meteor and the same is likely to be visible on Monday and Tuesday in the Indian sky. The high speed Leonid meteors, which is generally visible every year around Nov 17, can be seen for a fraction of second and these are nothing but solid particles ejected by the comet while passing by the sun. They look like raining stars or shooting stars, and thus have greater significance in sky watching. Before entering in to the earth’s environment, meteors do travel at a speed of nearly 71 kilometers per second. In an average, diameter of a Leonid meteor lies between 1 mm and 1 cm and weighs about 0.00006 gram.