November 12, 1999
The story of your birthday began billions of years before calendars existed, in furnaces of light and clouds of dust.
1998 Leonid Fireball
Birthday · November 12, 1999
A little universe, just for you
Your date.
Ready to give.
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APOD published November 12, 1999. Credit: Lorenzo Lovato. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Will this be the year? Last year's Leonid meteor shower did not produce the meteor storm many had hoped for. Still, it put on a dazzling show with many bright fireball meteors. For example, this Leonid fireball, photographed through light clouds, eerily flashed across the skies of Monteromano, Italy on November 17, 1998. This year, the chances for a storm with thousands of meteors per hour are considered good ... but experts are quick to acknowledge that such predictions are tricky. Want to see for yourself? The predicted peak should occur on early Thursday, November 18 (UTC) but meteor activity will certainly be observable days before and after. If the night is clear, just grab a lawn chair and a warm jacket, go outside and look up!
Image credit: Lorenzo Lovato