Leonid Meteor Shower: When, where and how to watch the November shooting star show - peaks midnight
By Leada Gore | lgore@al.com AL.com
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The Leonids meteor shower will be at its peak from midnight to dawn on Nov. 17-18. (Contributed photo/NASA)
The Leonid meteor shower will be lighting up the sky Nov. 17-18, creating a celestial fireworks show of shooting stars. The light show is not expected to be as vibrant as the Leonid show of 1998, when the meteor cycle was at a peak point, but should still be worth staying up late to catch a glimpse.
We're catching this year's annual meteor show at mid-cycle and NASA said you can expect to see as many as one meteor every four minutes.
What are we seeing?
Each year around this time, the Earth passes through a cloud of debris left behind by the comet Tempel-Tuttle. The shower will peak Tuesday night but the debris cloud is a big one and you will be able to see more meteors than usual for the rest of the month. It takes comet Tempel-Tuttle 33 years to orbit the sun once. The comet is relatively small - its nucleus measures only 2.24 miles across.
Specifically...Meteors come from leftover comet particles and bits of broken asteroids. When comets come around the sun, the dust they emit gradually creates a trail around their orbit, NASA said. The Earth passes through the debris fields every year and the collision of the particles with our atmosphere creates the fiery and colorful displays.
Leonid fun fact
NASA said the Leonids are super-fast – they travel about 44 miles per second, making them one of the fastest meteors we've seen. What's more, they are particularly bright and can also be colorful.
Where to look
Leonids gets its name from the constellation – Leo – from which it appears to originate. Leo appears in the eastern sky around midnight each night though meteors will be visible before then. Don't just look around Leo though. It is actually better to view the Leonids away from the radiant: They will appear longer and more spectacular from this perspective. If you do look directly at the radiant, you will find that the meteors will be short -- this is an effect of perspective, NASA said.
In the dark
It's best to go somewhere dark to see the meteor shower. City lights and their reflection can camouflage the shooting stars. The moon will be crescent on the nights of the Leonid and the darker sky could make it easier to spot the meteors. It will take about 30 minutes for your eyes to get adjusted to the dark so don't worry if you don't see them right away.
When to look
The meteors will be most visible from midnight to dawn on Nov. 17 and the same time on Nov. 18.
And a tip from NASA
If you're viewing the shower through your telescope, NASA said to check out the Moon's earthlit night side so you can see flashes from the Leonid meteoroid impacts on its night-side hemisphere.
Can't see anything? Try this
Don't worry if clouds are blocking your view of the Leonids. Slooh, the online observatory, will be offering a live stream of the meteor shower. You can watch it here. The show will start Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. CST.
A look back
In 1966, the Leonids produced an amazing show. That year, thousands of meteors per minute fell through the Earth's atmosphere during a 15-minute period, producing an effect similar to rain. NASA calls that rate a meteor storm versus a meteor shower. The last Leonid meteor storm was in 2002.