View source for Leonids

===1800s===
{{multiple image
 | total_width = 400
 | image1 = Leonids-1833.jpg
 | width1 = 499 
 | height1 = 764
 | alt1 = A sky full of shooting stars over a village
 | caption1 = A famous depiction of the 1833 meteor storm, produced in 1889 for the [[Seventh-day Adventist]] book ''Bible Readings for the Home Circle''.
 | image2 = Leonids-Pickering.jpg
 | width2 = 220
 | height2 = 253
 | alt2 = A sky full of shooting stars over the Niagara falls
 | caption2 = Woodcut print depicts the shower as seen at Niagara Falls, New York. ''Mechanics' Magazine'' said this illustration was made by an editor named Pickering "who witnessed the scene."
 }}

The Leonids are famous because their meteor showers, or storms, can be among the most spectacular. Because of the storm of 1833 and the developments in scientific thought of the time (see for example the identification of [[Halley's Comet]]), the Leonids have had a major effect on the scientific study of meteors, which had previously been thought to be atmospheric phenomena. Although it has been suggested the Leonid meteor shower and storms have been noted in ancient times,<ref>{{cite journal
 |author=Mohammed Omar Suleyman
 | title =The Leonid meteor shower and the history of the Semites (Arabs and Jews)
 | journal =Journal of the International Meteor Organization
 | volume =37
 | issue =3
 | pages =84–91
 | date =2009
 | bibcode =2009JIMO...37...84S 
}}</ref> it was the meteor storm of 12–13 November 1833 that broke into people's modern-day awareness. One estimate of the peak rate is over one hundred thousand meteors an hour,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.space.com/9517-leonid-meteor-shower-revealed-shooting-star-show-brilliant-history.html|title=The Leonid Meteor Shower Revealed: Shooting Star Show's Brilliant History|author=Joe Rao|publisher=Space.com|date=12 November 2010|access-date=18 August 2020|archive-date=9 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809221932/https://www.space.com/9517-leonid-meteor-shower-revealed-shooting-star-show-brilliant-history.html|url-status=live}}</ref> while another, done as the storm abated, estimated in excess of 240,000 meteors during the nine hours of the storm,<ref name=MAC>{{cite web|url=http://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/history.html|title=Leonid MAC - Brief history of the Leonid shower|publisher=[[NASA]]|date=2004|access-date=18 August 2020|archive-date=22 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120522025820/http://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/history.html|url-status=live}}</ref> over the entire region of North America east of the Rocky Mountains.

The event was marked by several nations of [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]]: the [[Cheyenne]] established a peace treaty<ref>{{cite web
  | url = http://www.aaanativearts.com/mailbag-archive/1373-what-is-the-underlying-significance-of-the-birth-of-the-white-buffalo.html
  | title = What is the underlying significance of the birth of the white buffalo?
  | publisher = AAA Native Arts
  | access-date = 20 July 2012
  | date = 2007-02-24
  | archive-date = 21 March 2015
  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150321044648/http://www.aaanativearts.com/mailbag-archive/1373-what-is-the-underlying-significance-of-the-birth-of-the-white-buffalo.html
  | url-status = dead
}}</ref> and the [[Lakota people|Lakota]] calendar was reset.<ref>{{cite web | title = Counting by Winters | work = Lakota Winter Counts Online Exhibit by the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History | publisher = Smithsonian Institution | url = http://wintercounts.si.edu/html_version/html/index.html | access-date = 2009-12-24 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140423231754/http://wintercounts.si.edu/html_version/html/index.html | archive-date = 2014-04-23 | url-status = dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title = The Year the Stars Fell | editor-last = Greene | editor-first = Candace S. | editor2-last = Thornton | editor2-first = Russell | url = https://archive.org/details/yearstarsfelllak0000unse | isbn = 978-0-8032-2211-3 | date = June 2007 | publisher = U of Nebraska Press | url-access = registration }}</ref> Many Native American birthdays were calculated by reference to the 1833 Leonid event.<ref>{{cite book|last=Zapffe|first=Carl A.|title=Kahbe nagwi wens: The man who lived in 3 centuries|location=Brainerd, MN|publisher=Historic Heartland Association|year=1975|page=1|isbn=978-0-910623-00-1}} in {{cite book |first=Timothy G. |last=Roufs |title=When Everybody Called Me Gah-bay-bi-nayss, "Forever-Flying-Bird": An Ethnographic Biography of Paul Peter Buffalo |url=http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/Buffalo/PB41.html |year=2008 |publisher=University of Minnesota Duluth}} footnote 35</ref> [[Abolitionism in the United States|Abolitionists]] including [[Harriet Tubman]] and [[Frederick Douglass]] as well as slave-owners took note<ref>{{cite web| title = The Night the Stars Fell; My Search for Amanda Young| work = Freedmen of the Frontier – African American Historical and Genealogical Resource Page of the city of Ft. Smith Arkansas| url = https://www.angelfire.com/ar/freedmen/stars.html| access-date = 2009-12-24| archive-date = 30 November 2020| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201130045838/https://www.angelfire.com/ar/freedmen/stars.html| url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | last = Bell | first = Madison Smartt | title = The Fugitive | newspaper = New York Times | date = 24 June 2007 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/24/books/review/Bell.html?_r=2&ref=books&oref=slogin | access-date = 2009-12-24 | archive-date = 2 September 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180902052340/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/24/books/review/Bell.html?_r=2&ref=books&oref=slogin | url-status = live }}</ref> and others.<ref>{{cite news | title = The Great Leonid Meteor Storm of 1833 – A first-hand account by Elder Samuel Rogers | newspaper = NASA Science News | date = 22 June 1999 | url = https://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast22jun99%5F2.htm | access-date = 2009-12-24 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091218223803/http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast22jun99_2.htm | archive-date = 18 December 2009 | url-status = dead }}</ref> The ''[[New York Evening Post]]'' carried a series of articles on the event including reports from Canada to Jamaica,<ref>* {{cite news
 | title =Wednesday, November 13
 | newspaper =The Evening Post
 | location =New York, New York
 | page =2
 | date =13 Nov 1833
 | url =https://www.newspapers.com/clip/179386/1833_leonids/
 | access-date =27 Oct 2015
 | archive-date =13 May 2022
 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20220513141115/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/179386/1833-leonids/
 | url-status =live
 }}
* {{cite news
 | title =Thursday, November 14
 | newspaper =The Evening Post
 | location =New York, New York
 | page =2
 | date =14 Nov 1833
 | url =https://www.newspapers.com/clip/179392/1833_leonids/
 | access-date =27 Oct 2015
 | archive-date =4 March 2016
 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20160304211411/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/179392/1833_leonids/
 | url-status =live
 }}
* {{cite news
 | title =Friday, November 15
 | newspaper =The Evening Post
 | location =New York, New York
 | page =2
 | date =15 Nov 1833
 | url =https://www.newspapers.com/clip/179401/1833_leonids/
 | access-date =27 Oct 2015
 | archive-date =13 May 2022
 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20220513141108/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/179401/1833-leonids/
 | url-status =live
 }}
* {{cite news
 | title =The late celestial phenomena…
 | newspaper =The Evening Post
 | location =New York, New York
 | page =2
 | date =22 Nov 1833
 | url =https://www.newspapers.com/clip/179424/1833_leonids/
 | access-date =27 Oct 2015
 | archive-date =4 March 2016
 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20160304100403/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/179424/1833_leonids/
 | url-status =live
 }}
* {{cite news
 | title =An extract of a letter…
 | newspaper =The Evening Post
 | location =New York, New York
 | page =2
 | date =23 Nov 1833
 | url =https://www.newspapers.com/clip/179427/1833_leonids/
 | access-date =27 Oct 2015
 | archive-date =13 May 2022
 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20220513141137/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/179427/1833-leonids/
 | url-status =live
 }}
* {{cite news
 | title =New Orleans, Nov 14…
 | newspaper =The Evening Post
 | location =New York, New York
 | page =2
 | date =28 Nov 1833
 | url =https://www.newspapers.com/clip/179449/1833_leonids/
 | access-date =27 Oct 2015
 | archive-date =13 May 2022
 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20220513141108/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/179449/1833-leonids/
 | url-status =live
 }}
* {{cite news
 | title =A Halifax article…
 | newspaper =The Evening Post
 | location =New York, New York
 | page =2
 | date =29 Nov 1833
 | url =https://www.newspapers.com/clip/179451/1833_leonids/
 | access-date =27 Oct 2015
 | archive-date =4 March 2016
 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20160304141904/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/179451/1833_leonids/
 | url-status =live
 }}
* {{cite news
 | title =From Jamaica…
 | newspaper =The Evening Post
 | location =New York, New York
 | page =2
 | date =27 Dec 1833
 | url =https://www.newspapers.com/clip/179474/1833_leonids/
 | access-date =27 Oct 2015
 | archive-date =4 March 2016
 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20160304092116/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/179474/1833_leonids/
 | url-status =live
 }}</ref> it made news in several states beyond New York<ref>* {{cite news
 | title =Meteoric Phenomenon
 | newspaper =The Adams Sentinel
 | location =Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
 | page =3
 | date =18 Nov 1833
 | url =https://www.newspapers.com/clip/179408/1833_leonids/
 | access-date =27 Oct 2015
 | archive-date =4 March 2016
 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20160304131358/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/179408/1833_leonids/
 | url-status =live
 }}
* {{cite news
 | title =Remarkable Phenomenon
 | newspaper =Huron Reflector
 | location =Norwalk, Ohio
 | page =2
 | date =19 Nov 1833
 | url =https://www.newspapers.com/clip/179416/1833_leonids/
 | access-date =27 Oct 2015
 | archive-date =6 March 2016
 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20160306161103/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/179416/1833_leonids/
 | url-status =live
 }} 
* {{cite news
 | title =Falling stars
 | newspaper =Newbern Sentinel
 | location =New Bern, North Carolina
 | page =2
 | date =6 Dec 1833
 | url =https://www.newspapers.com/clip/179463/1833_leonids/
 | access-date =27 Oct 2015
 | archive-date =4 March 2016
 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20160304093110/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/179463/1833_leonids/
 | url-status =live
 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal
| author=Mary L. Kwas
 | title =The Spectacular 1833 Leonid Meteor Storm: The View from Arkansas
 | journal =The Arkansas Historical Quarterly
 | volume =58
 | issue =3
 | pages =314–324
 | date = 1999
 | jstor =40026232
 | doi=10.2307/40026232}}</ref> and, though it appeared in North America, was talked about in Europe.<ref>{{cite news
 | title =At Halifax, Nova Scotia…
 | newspaper =The Times
 | location =London, England
 | page =5
 | date =11 Dec 1833
 | url =https://www.newspapers.com/clip/179466/1833_leonids/
 | access-date =27 Oct 2015
 | archive-date =4 March 2016
 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20160304102234/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/179466/1833_leonids/
 | url-status =live
 }}</ref> The journalism of the event tended to rise above the partisan debates of the time and reviewed facts as they could be sought out.<ref>{{cite journal
 |author=Mark Littmann
 | title =American Newspapers and the Great Meteor Storm of 1833: A Case Study in Science Journalism
 | journal =Journalism and Communication Monographs 
 | volume =10
 | issue =3
 | pages =249–284
 | date =September 2008
 | doi =10.1177/152263790801000302
| s2cid =144266410
 }}</ref> [[Abraham Lincoln]] commented on it years later.<ref>{{cite journal
 |author1      = Donald W. Olson
 |author2      = Laurie E. Jasinski
 |title        = Abe Lincoln and the Leonids
 |journal      = Sky and Telescope
 |pages        = 34–5
 |date         = Nov 1999
 |volume = 98
 |issue = 5
 |bibcode = 1999S&T....98e..34O
 |url          = http://media.skyandtelescope.com/documents/LincolnandLeonids.pdf
 |access-date   = 27 Oct 2015
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304090034/http://media.skyandtelescope.com/documents/LincolnandLeonids.pdf
 |archive-date = 4 March 2016
 |url-status   = dead
}}</ref> Near [[Independence, Missouri]], in Clay County, a refugee [[Mormon]] community watched the meteor shower on the banks of the Missouri River after having been driven from their homes by local settlers.<ref>{{cite book|title=The autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt, one of the twelve apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: embracing his life, ministry and travels, with extracts, in prose and verse, from his miscellaneous writings|url=https://archive.org/stream/autobiographyofp00prat#page/n3/mode/2up|via=archive.org|publisher=Chicago : Pub. for Pratt bros. by Law, King & Law|year=1888}}</ref> [[Joseph Smith]], the founder and first leader of [[Mormonism]], afterwards noted in his journal for November 1833 his belief that this event was "a litteral [''sic''] fulfillment of the word of God" and a harbinger of the imminent [[second coming]] of [[Christ]].<ref>[http://josephsmithpapers.org/paperSummary/journal-1832-1834#!/paperSummary/journal-1832-1834&p=20 The Joseph Smith Papers] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140608171258/http://josephsmithpapers.org/paperSummary/journal-1832-1834#!/paperSummary/journal-1832-1834&p=20 |date=8 June 2014}} Journals Volume 1: 1832–1839</ref> Though it was noted in the midwest and eastern areas, it was also noted in [[Far West, Missouri]].<ref>{{cite journal
 |author       = Erwin F. Lange
 |title        = Fireballs, meteorites, and meteor showers
 |journal      = The Ore Bin
 |volume       = 30
 |issue        = 8
 |pages        = 145–150
 |publisher    = Oregon. Dept. of Geology and Mineral Industries
 |date         = August 1968
 |url          = http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/handle/1957/3294
 |access-date  = 27 Oct 2015
 |archive-date = 4 March 2016
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304113138/http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/handle/1957/3294
 |url-status   = live
}}</ref>

[[Denison Olmsted]] explained the event most accurately. After spending the last weeks of 1833 collecting information, he presented his findings in January 1834 to the ''[[American Journal of Science and Arts]]'', published in January–April 1834,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Olmsted|first=Denison|title=Observations on the Meteors of November 13th, 1833|journal=The American Journal of Science and Arts|date=1833|volume=25|pages=363–411|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/30964366|access-date=3 April 2012|archive-date=24 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924195349/http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/30964366|url-status=live}}</ref> and January 1836.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Olmsted|first=Denison|title=Facts respecting the Meteoric Phenomena of November 13th, 1834.|journal=The American Journal of Science and Arts|date=1836|volume=29|issue=1|pages=168–170|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/31127293|access-date=13 January 2018|archive-date=19 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170719130824/http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/31127293|url-status=live}}</ref> He noted the shower was of short duration and was not seen in Europe, and that the meteors radiated from a point in the constellation of Leo and he speculated the meteors had originated from a cloud of particles in space.<ref name="Kronk">[http://meteorshowersonline.com/leonids.html Observing the Leonids] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130304005613/http://meteorshowersonline.com/leonids.html |date=2013-03-04 }} [[Gary W. Kronk]]</ref> Accounts of the 1866 repeat of the Leonids counted hundreds per minute/a few thousand per hour in Europe.<ref>[http://www.peyman.info/cl/Baha'i/Others/ROB/V2/p422-426Apndx_I.html The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, Vol 2] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170508204456/http://www.peyman.info/cl/Baha%27i/Others/ROB/V2/p422-426Apndx_I.html |date=8 May 2017 }} by Adib Taherzadeh, Appendix I: The Star-fall of 1866</ref> The Leonids were again seen in 1867, when moonlight reduced the rates to 1,000 meteors per hour. Another strong appearance of the Leonids in 1868 reached an intensity of 1,000 meteors per hour in dark skies. It was in 1866–67 that information on Comet Tempel-Tuttle was gathered, pointing it out as the source of the meteor shower and meteor storms.<ref name="Kronk"/> When the storms failed to return in 1899, it was generally thought that the dust had moved on and the storms were a thing of the past.

[[File:Trouvelot- The November meteors. - 1868.jpg|thumb|right|270px|The November Meteors by [[Étienne Léopold Trouvelot]], 1868]]