How to watch the Leonid meteor shower peaking this weekend

This yr, the Leonid meteor shower will attain its peak on the evenings of 17 and 18 November. The Leonids are a very thrilling shower, recognized for his or her vibrant, fast-moving meteors. With the moon partially lit, at 19 per cent of its full brightness on 17 November, there’s a good probability to spot them from anyplace in the world.

What are meteor showers?

Meteors, or capturing stars, are vibrant flashes of sunshine that streak throughout the sky, showing as if from nowhere, and are gone in seconds. They are brought on by items of particles in area, usually round the dimension of a grain of rice, coming into Earth’s environment and burning up, they usually can occur at any time of the yr. Specific meteor showers happen about the similar time every year, when Earth’s orbit brings us right into a cloud of particles, often left over from a comet.

Why are they known as the Leonids?

The Leonid meteor shower is called after the constellation it seems to come from, in this case Leo, however it’s really produced by particles from comet Tempel-Tuttle, often known as 55P.

How can I watch the Leonids?

The finest time to look is after midnight. Find a transparent spot and preserve your eyes on the sky. The meteors will seem to come from Leo, which you will discover by the Plough or the Big Dipper. Look for the two stars at the far finish of the Plough, away from the deal with – these are referred to as pointer stars as a result of drawing a line from the backside of the Plough to the high will level you in direction of Polaris, the North Star. To discover Leo, hint a line by way of the pointer stars in the wrong way till you attain a question-mark formed group of stars that make the head of the lion. That mentioned, you don’t have to have a look at any explicit constellation, as a result of the meteors will cross the sky in all instructions.

How many meteors will I see?

The longer you’re looking, the larger your probabilities of recognizing meteors. The estimated peak of the Leonids will result in 15 meteors per hour. If you might be fortunate, you may also spot a fireball. These are produced by bigger items of particles and seem a lot brighter than traditional meteors, keep seen for a bit longer and sometimes have seen tails behind them.

Can I see comet Tempel-Tuttle?

While the Leonids occur yearly, comet Tempel-Tuttle received’t be seen this yr. That is as a result of it takes about 33 years to orbit the solar, spending most of that point removed from Earth. Around the time the comet reaches its closest strategy to Earth, the Leonids turn into not only a meteor shower, however one thing referred to as a meteor storm, with over 1000 meteors seen in an hour. The final Leonid meteor storm was in 1996, so we can have to wait till 2029 for the subsequent one.