Leonid Meteor Shower To Dazzle Stargazers With A Celestial Show This Weekend

The Leonid meteor shower is set to peak this weekend, sending shooting stars dashing across the night sky. The Leonids are well-known for their high-speed meteors, which can travel up to 44 miles per second.

November has been full of celestial delights already, with a Beaver supermoon, planetary views of Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars, and two previous meteor showers. This weekend, however, the night skies will be for those hoping to wish upon a star, as the Leonid meteor shower kicks into high gear. Unfortunately, the moon will still be nearly full, making those wishes a bit harder to make.

"Unfortunately this year, the viewing conditions will be affected" by a nearly full moon, explained Shyam Balaji of King's College London. "Watching during the early morning hours, when the moon is lower in the sky, can improve your chances of seeing more meteors."

The peak of the meteor shower is expected to occur on Sunday, when the moon is still 98% full. But under ideal viewing conditions, there could still be up to as many as 15 visible meteors per hour.

The meteors that make up the Leonid meteor shower are derived from the parent comet, known as Comet Tempel-Tuttle, officially known as 55P/Temple-Tuttle. This comet was first discovered by William Tempel of Marseille Observatory in France on the evening of December 19, 1865. Tempel found the comet in the northern sky in a part of the sky under the North Star, near the star Beta Ursae Minoris.

News of the discovery of the comet had not yet reached the US, when Horace Tuttle of Harvard College Observatory detected the same comet 17 days later, on the evening of January 5, 1866. It wasn’t until 1965 that the comet was once again detected in the night skies, when a spectacular meteor storm followed in 1966.

On its return in 1998, the comet was bright enough to be seen with binoculars. As it passed by Earth, it produced an impressive meteor showers in 1999-2001.

For those hoping to catch a falling star or two, they will first need to locate the constellation Leo the Lion. The meteors will appear to radiate radiate outward from the vicinity of stars representing the Lion’s Mane.

The Leonids will be best viewed after midnight until dawn on November 18, 2024. The duration of the meteor shower is expected to last until December 2, 2024.