The parent comet of the Leonids has just been 
recovered at 22m as comet 1997 E1, 55P/Tempel-Tuttle.  
It will not reach perihelion until 1998 Feb 28 when 
it may get as bright as 9m.  It will pass 0.35 AU 
from the earth in mid February when it gets within 8  
of the pole.

The comet was originally discovered on 1865 December 
19 by William Tempel in Marseilles and on 1866 
January 6 by Horace Tuttle from Harvard.  The comet 
was then around 6m and reached perihelion on January 
12 when it was 5m.  It faded and was last seen on 
February 9.  Once the orbit was calculated it was 
realised that it was very similar to that of the 
Leonids and previous returns of the comet were found 
in 1366 (when it made a very close approach to earth, 
0.0229 AU, and reached 3m) and 1699.  It wasn't 
really looked for in 1899, and couldn't be found in 
1932.  It was eventually recovered some three months 
after perihelion in 1965 June.

The Leonid rates themselves last year seem to have 
peaked at a ZHR of around 50-60 between 06-10 UT on 
November 17.  Many of the meteors were bright, which 
is similar to what was seen prior to the big display 
in 1966.  There is a slightly more detailed report by 
Neil Bone in the March issue of Astronomy Now.