What are leonids?

The Leonids are a shower of tiny rocks that light up the night sky like stars falling from heaven.

Imagine you're playing with your favorite toy, maybe a ball or a car. Now imagine there's a big group of kids, all throwing their toys at you from far away. Each toy hits the ground near you and makes a little flash of light. That’s kind of what happens with the Leonids. They are tiny pieces of rock that come from a space rock called Comet 181, which zips around our sun like a race car on a track.

Every year, when Earth passes by Comet 181’s path, those tiny rocks, called space dust, zoom into our atmosphere. As they fall through the air, they heat up and glow, just like when you rub your hands together really fast and they get warm. This glowing makes them look like fireflies or little stars falling from the sky.

Sometimes there are so many of them that it feels like the whole sky is coming alive with lights, it’s like a big, bright party in the night!