I haven't seen much about the leonids here. Am I looking in the wrong place? Might be a really good show. Last one I saw, '02(?), was about 600 in three hours. Amazing! / Re: black holes (thank you John Wheeler), if a super-massive black hole is absorbing the mass of a galaxy, will it eventually cause the entire mass of that galaxy to gravitate inward and be totally absorbed? Is there a limit to how much it can accrete before it burps out a particle jet? "No thanks, I couldn't eat another bite.."

A good place to watch for info regarding meteor showers is at SpaceWeather.com.

A

androseeker:

if a super-massive black hole is absorbing the mass of a galaxy, will it eventually cause the entire mass of that galaxy to gravitate inward and be totally absorbed? Is there a limit to how much it can accrete before it burps out a particle jet? "No thanks, I couldn't eat another bite.."

A blackhole at the center of a galaxy won't 'suck in' the whole galaxy.  It will clear out its surrounding area, but it is subject to the inverse square law which limits its reach.  The jets of relatavistic particles we see being ejected from  the discs surrounding some blackholes are generated by the friction and squeezing of mass in the inner regions of the accretion disc not from inside the event horizon.  As far as I know, you can't fill a black hole.

The Leonid meteor shower may be more active than normal this year, with a possible outburst taking place after the shower’s traditional peak.  An enhanced rate of more than 100 meteors per hour may occur around 22:00 UT on November 17, favoring observers in Asia.

http://www.imo.net/calendar/2009#leo

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33589356/ns/technology_and_science-science/

Dave Mitsky

There's more on the possibility of a Leonid outburst at http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/04dec_leonids2009.htm and http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/081204-leonids-meteor-shower-2009.html

Dave Mitsky