The Leonid meteors are a few years away from producing the kind meteor storm that dazzles stargazers once about every 33 years, but the fast fireballs they’re known for producing should still put on a show this weekend.
When the meteor shower peaks in activity, observers should have the chance to see shooting stars whizzing across the sky at dizzying speeds of about 44 miles per second. The Leonids are also known for their fireballs, which are brighter, more colorful and last longer than an average meteor streak that can, at times, whiz so close to the horizon that their long tails appear to graze the Earth, according to NASA.
But while the meteors are fast, they’re not necessarily abundant. At the height, spectators may only see about 15 meteors within an hour.
However, the meteors pack their biggest punch every few decades when their parent comet’s orbit around the sun causes a meteor storm with hundreds – or even thousands – of meteors visible per hour. In 1966, the Leonids produced one of the greatest meteor storms in living memory when thousands of meteors per minute fell like rain during a 15-minute span, according to EarthSky.org.
The last Leonid meteor storm took place in 2002, meaning we’re still a few years away from another one.
Here’s what to know about when and how to view the Leonids.
When can you see the Leonid meteor shower?
While the Leonids are active Nov. 3 to Dec. 2, the shower will reach its peak activity Saturday and Sunday, according to the American Meteor Society.
How to watch the Leonids
The Leonids are best viewed starting at about midnight local time.
Sadly, this year spectators will have to contend with a nearly-full bright waning gibbous moon, which will spoil the best views of the meteors by outshining them, the meteor society says.
Though named after Leo because the meteors seem to emerge – or radiate – from the same area in the sky as the constellation, NASA advises stargazers to look away from the constellation to get the best views. The Leonids should be visible across the night sky and will appear with a longer tail to spectators who view them away from their radiant.
Here are some general viewing tips from the space agency:
- Find an area well away from street lights and the light pollution of cities.
- Come prepared for winter temperatures with a sleeping bag, blanket or lawn chair.
- Lie flat on your back with your feet facing the east and look up, taking in as much of the sky as possible.
It should take less than 30 minutes for your eyes to adapt so that you can see streaking meteors. But be patient, NASA warns: the show will last until dawn.
What causes the Leonid meteor shower?
Meteor showers occur when Earth passes through dusty debris trails left by comets and other space objects as they orbit the sun. The debris – space rocks known as meteoroids – collides with Earth’s atmosphere at high speed and disintegrates, creating fiery and colorful streaks in the sky, according to NASA.
Those resulting fireballs, better known as “shooting stars,” are meteors. If meteoroids survive their trip to Earth without burning up in the atmosphere, they are called meteorites, NASA says.
The pieces of space debris that interact with our atmosphere to create the Leonids originate from 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, a small comet named for the two men who discovered it independently in 1865 and 1866, according to NASA.
While the Leonid shower is famous for producing meteor storms, don’t expect any this year. Those events occur when its parent comet completes a single orbit around the sun about once every 33 years – releasing fresh material.
According to the American Meteor Society, it is not the fresh material we see from the comet, but rather debris from earlier returns that also happen to be most dense at the same time.
“When the comet returns in 2031 and 2064, there may not be any meteor storms, but perhaps several good displays of Leonid activity when rates are in excess of 100 per hour,” according to the website.
Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com
