This was
your sky.

Tempel-Tuttle: The Leonid Comet

Comet Tempel-Tuttle, the source of the yearly Leonid meteor shower, was captured in this composite time exposure in 1998. The comet orbits the Sun every 33 years, leaving a trail of dust in its wake. When Earth crosses this orbital plane, we encounter the dust, which burns up in our atmosphere as meteors. Binoculars or a small telescope were needed to see the comet itself during this pass.