Leonid Meteor Showers Peaking

From midnight to dawn this weekend – say, beginning on the mornings of November 14 or 15, 2020 – watch for meteors in the annual Leonid meteor shower.

The new moon on November 15 guarantees dark skies in rural locations on the shower’s peak mornings.

The meteors are expected to fall most abundantly in the dark hours before dawn on Tuesday, November 17, but we’re already hearing from people who are seeing Leonid meteors.

At the shower’s peak, you might see as many as 10 to 15 meteors per hour.

The usual rules for meteor-watching apply: go to a dark country location in the hours before sunrise.

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The Leonids are famous for storming at various times in history.

The first great meteor storm of modern times was nearly 200 years ago; it was the Leonid shower of November 1833.

That famous shower had a major effect on the development of the scientific study of meteors.

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Image via Wikimedia Commons.

The illustration depicts the 1833 Leonid meteor shower, said to have produced from 100,000 to 200,000 meteors per hour!

Leonid meteor storm, as seen over North America on the night of November 12-13, 1833.

This woodcut was published in 1888 by E. Weib in his Bilderatlas der Sternenwelt (Illustrated Atlas of the Stars).

The comet takes just over 33 years to orbit the sun. Its last perihelion (closest point to the sun) was February 28, 1998.

Its next expected perihelion is May 20, 2031.

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Every year in November, the Earth passes through the debris left by Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, which creates the Leonid meteor shower.

Join Lowell Observatory at 8pm AZ/PT on Monday, November 16, 2020, for a live stream of the Leonid meteor shower, hosted by astronomer Dr. Nick Moskovitz and research assistant Megan Gialluca, plus special guest Dr. Denis Vida of the University of Western Ontario.

We’ll use the All-Sky Camera at the Lowell Discovery Telescope to hunt for meteors together.

After that, you’ll be ready to find more on your own, when the meteor shower peaks in the hours before dawn.

What is the Leonid Meteor Shower?

Every year in mid-November, the Leonid Meteor Shower — the fastest major shower of the year — lights up the sky with shooting stars.