The Leonid meteor shower peaked last week, on November 17th, with a predicted showering of about 10 per hour just before dawn. Reminded of that, I took the opportunity to wander outside during the morning hours. I managed only to spot two or three that evening, peering through the generally sodium-vapor emission saturated skies around London, but I thought it a rather good night.

Even when you study the sky for a living, it’s disconcerting how easy it is to forget to take time to sometimes soak up the night sky with one’s own eyes, rather than through a computer screen. Luckily, not everyone else is perhaps as negligent when it comes to watching these relatively rare showings: