The Leonid Meteor Shower will illuminate the night sky this month and put a social distant spectacle for everyone to enjoy.
This year, a meteor is likely to hover in the night sky every five minutes or more during the peak of Leonids. That’s according to Bill Cook, lead of NASA’s Meteor Atmosphere office fee, who said today what you should look for.
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When to see Leonid meteor shower
Leonids occur in mid-November each year. This year, the best time to see a meteor shower at its peak is on local November 17 from 3 to 4 p.m.
“They have an early morning riser shower, which makes it uncomfortable for some people,” Cook said. If you have to watch, don’t forget to set the alarm!
What are Leonids?
When a comet evaporates pieces of Temple-Tuttle into the Earth’s atmosphere, it obstructs the sky.
“You’ll probably see 10 to 15 meteors per hour,” Bruce McCuller of Earthsky said today. “If you trace Leonid meteors backwards, they all spread out from the Leo constellation.”
McClure said the fountain would appear around the world, but it “favors the Northern Hemisphere.”
What is the best way to see Leonids?
Leonids are more rude than some other annual meteor showers.
“To see a meteor shower, go outside, find a dark space and put a flat on your back and look straight up,” Cook said. “Use your eyes. No telescope or binoculars needed.”
It also recommends not looking at the smartphone from the outside, as this can have an effect on how a person sees objects at night. Since the Leonids are on the obscure side, sky geysers will need to be cautious when they see an early morning cosmic event.
While Leonids are more annoying than some other meteor showers, consider them an early study for Geminids. More live meteor showers are due to arrive on the night of December 13 next month.
