The night sky has a show in store for stargazers willing to bundle up against mid-November temperatures in the coming days.
The annual Leonid meteor shower will be gaining in intensity this week, peaking after midnight in the wee hours of Friday, November 18. While this meteor shower will be active all month, at its peak it could deliver approximately 15 to 20 meteors per hour, according to NASA.
As clear, dark skies are best for viewing any meteor shower, the moon’s phase always plays a role in how many meteors that stargazers will get to see. This year during the Leonids peak the moon will be about 35% full, which could obscure fainter meteors.
However, Leonid meteors are known for being colorful, fast and bright, NASA says, with trails that can linger for several seconds as they streak across the sky — meaning some meteors should still be visible despite the moonlight.
The Leonid meteor shower, caused by debris left behind by the comet Tempel-Tuttle, gets its name from the way it appears to originate from the constellation Leo. Roughly every 33 years, skywatchers may get to see a Leonid storm, which can bring with it more than 1,000 meteors per hour. The last Leonid meteor storm was in 2002.
This year, as the constellation Leo will be rising in the east along with the moon around midnight local time, NASA suggests that Leonids watchers lie back and look straight upward, facing away from the east, for the most spectacular meteor trails.
Find more skywatching tips at NASA.gov.
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