METEOR ALERT!! THE LEONID METEOR SHOWER PEAKS THIS MONDAY!!! – 17/11/2025 - EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE LEONID METEOR SHOWER!!! 💖🌒🌠☄️✨
A QUICK SUMMARY OF THE LEONID METEOR SHOWER
- Parent Body: Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle
- Radiant Constellation: Leo
- Shower activity between: 5th November – 30th November
- Peak activity: 17th November
- Peak meteor count: on average up to 15 meteors per hour in perfect conditions
- Best time/date to observe: early morning of the 18th of November
The Leonid meteor shower is a minor meteor shower that is active between the 5th and 30th of November. This year the peak night for the Leonids is the night of the 17th of November into the morning of the 18th of November.
This year will be an excellent year to observe the Leonid meteor shower due to the peak night occurring only 3 days before new Moon. This means that during the Leonids peak, the Moon will not be in our night skies, and not creating any natural light pollution. And so conditions (cloud conditions aside) will be excellent for viewing meteors in the night sky.
All in all, it’s a great time to try spot meteors and well worth spending an hour or two out stargazing and meteor watching on these beautiful dark nights.
If you would like more detailed information on the Leonid meteor shower and meteors in general, including what meteors are, where they come from, what you need to know about to maximise your chances of viewing meteors, plus our personal recommendations and tips for when and where to look, please read on…
THE LEONID METEOR SHOWER
The Leonid Meteor Shower is so named because the radiant point from which its meteors appear to radiate from is located within the constellation of Leo – the lion.
The Leonid meteor shower occurs every November when the planet Earth passes through a cloud of debris left behind by comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. This year the shower is active between the 5th to the 30th of November and peaks on the evening of the 17th of November.
While not one of the most prolific of meteor showers of the year, the Leonid meteor shower is one of the most famous meteor showers, known for lighting up dark skies with bright, fast meteors that can leave fine trails. At its peak, this shower is projected to produce up to 15 meteors an hour under clear, dark skies.
The Leonids are known for producing “fireballs”, which are exceptionally bright meteors (brighter than Venus) that blaze across the night sky amazing all those that witness them. These fireballs are so bright that they can even be visible in light-polluted areas such as cities.
Leonid meteors are also known to be colourful and very fast. In fact, they are known as some of the fastest meteors you can see! Typically travelling at 44 miles per second, they enter Earth's atmosphere at a speed of roughly 160,000 miles per hour. Wow! 🙀☄️
LEONID METEOR STORMS
The main reason why the Leonid meteor shower is so well known is because of the incredible “meteor storms” it can produce.
Around every 33 years the Leonids produce “meteor storms” when hundreds or even thousands of shooting stars can be seen. The 1833 storm was particularly spectacular, with an estimated 100,000 meteors per hour. While in comparison the 1999-2001 storms produced around 3000 per hour. The next storm is predicted to be around the year 2031 when comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle (the comet responsible for the Leonids) revisits the inner solar system.
WHERE DO METEORS COME FROM? / PARENT BODY – COMET 55P/TEMPEL-TUTTLE
Most meteor showers are caused by comet debris that crosses Earth’s orbit, some showers are caused by asteroid debris.
The Leonid meteor shower is caused by the trail of debris left by the Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle.
When we watch the Leonids streak across the sky, what we are actually witnessing is the fragments from Comet Tempel-Tuttle’s trail as it passes by the Earth.
Like all comets, 55P is a ball of dust, ice, rock and dark organic material. 55P is a relatively small comet in comparison to others, its nucleus measures only around 2.24 miles across. Comet Tempel-Tuttle takes around 33.25 years to orbit the sun, it last visited our inner solar system in 1998 and will not visit again until 2031.
The comet was independently discovered twice by two separate astronomers. The comet was first discovered by Ernst Tempel in 1865 and later by Horace Tuttle in 1866. 55P/Tempel-Tuttle was named after its two discoverers and is the 55th comet discovered to have a orbital period of less than 200 years (hence its designation of 55P).
WHAT CAUSES THE LIGHT FROM METEORS?
As a comet or asteroid travels through space, it leaves a trail of dust and debris behind it. When Earth intersects these trails, we slam into the dust and debris in their wake. The debris then enters the Earth’s atmosphere at incredibly high speed, generating immense amounts of frictional energy that is released in the form of intense heat and light. Meteors tend to vary from the size of a sand grain to about as big as a pea. The bigger the piece of debris, the bigger and brighter the meteor.
When a meteoroid particle strikes the upper atmosphere at high speed, it heats up to around 1,650°C and starts to glow. The meteoroid also compresses and heats the air in front of it, exciting atoms like oxygen which in turn radiate light. Together, the two processes produce the bright, needle-like flashes known as meteors or "shooting stars."
Occasionally, a meteoroid may be large enough to survive its fiery journey through our atmosphere, landing somewhere on Earth. When a meteoroid manages to land on our planet, it becomes known as a meteorite.
METEOR COLOURS ❤️💙💜🧡💛☄️
When meteoroids burn up in our atmosphere, they can sometimes create beautifully colourful trails behind them. The colours that meteors display are partly caused by the presence of traces of elements such as sodium, iron and calcium, the same elements that are used to make fireworks colourful.
These elements become ionised as they travel through Earth’s atmosphere and emit a beautiful range of different coloured meteor trails as their particles burn up in the atmosphere. The colours that are emitted depend on the elements being excited.
Here are the colours associated with different elements found in meteors: 👇
🟠 Orange-yellow — sodium;
🟡 Yellow — iron;
🔵 Blue-green — magnesium;
🟣 Violet — calcium;
🔴 Red — atmospheric nitrogen and oxygen.
The speed at which the meteor enters the Earth’s atmosphere can also affect the colour. The faster a meteor moves, the more intense it’s colour may appear.
FIREBALL METEORS
On rare occasions, when a meteoroid is large enough, it is possible to view extremely bright meteors which are known as “Fireballs”. A meteor is called a fireball when it reaches a magnitude (brightness) equal to or brighter than that of the planet Venus. Venus is about -4 in magnitude, a meteor must be brighter than this to be known as a fireball. These fireballs are so bright that they can easily be seen in heavily light-polluted areas such as cities.
On very rare occasions, it is possible to view meteors that explode and separate into several pieces in the sky. We have been treated to sights of a couple of these at the public stargazing events that we run in Dalby Forest. These explosive meteors are known as “bolides” and can outshine the bright full moon. They are an incredible sight to witness.
WHAT TO CONSIDER TO MAKE SURE YOU CAN SEE METEORS
In order to maximise your chances of viewing meteors from a meteor shower it helps to consider a few things.
The main thing you need to consider when looking for meteors from a meteor shower is the date/s when the Earth travels it’s furthest into the trail of debris left by the parent comet or asteroid. Around this period of time there will be a higher number of meteoroids entering the Earth’s atmosphere, this is the peak of the meteor shower.
The next most important thing to consider for many showers is the time that the radiant for the meteor shower will be high in the sky. The higher the radiant is in your visible sky, the higher your chances of viewing meteors will be. However, sometimes the radiant for a shower may not be at its highest point in the sky when the skies are dark.
You must also take the brightness of the skies into account along with the radiant’s location in order to maximise your chances of viewing meteors.
There are also other factors such as the Earth weather, the conditions of your viewing location and the Moon’s position and phase that will affect how easy it is to view meteors and need to be considered.
WHEN IS THE PEAK / THE BEST NIGHT TO WATCH?
This year the Leonid meteor shower is active between the 5th and the 30th of November.
There seems to be a lot of confusion as to the when the peak of the Leonids will take place this year with many sources disagreeing on the specific date of the peak.
However, according to reliable sources - for the UK, the exact peak (when the Earth travels furthest into the trail of comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle) will be in the early evening of the 17th of November.
Technically speaking, the Leonids will be most active in the early evening of the 17th, however there are other factors to take into account (please see below) that will affect the amount of visible meteors, and later in the night into the early morning of the 18th will be better for observing meteors.
WHERE TO LOOK / THE RADIANT
To help you know where is best to look for meteors it helps to understand a little about meteor shower radiants.
Meteors from a specific meteor shower will appear to originate from a particular area of the sky which is known as the “radiant”.
The radiant for the Leonid meteor shower can be located in the constellation of Leo the lion.
The constellation of Leo can be found below the asterism known as the Plough, the constellation of Ursa Major and in between the zodiacal constellations of Cancer and Virgo.
Leo can be identified most easily by the bright star Regulus and the asterism known as the “Sickle”. The Sickle is said by many to also resemble a backwards question mark, with the bright star Regulus making the dot of the question mark - ⸮
More specifically, during the shower’s peak, the radiant for the Leonids is located in the area of sky in the centre of the blade of the “sickle”.
You don’t really need to know exactly where the meteors radiate from because meteors can appear anywhere in the sky. However, knowing where the radiant is may help you increase your chances of viewing meteors if you follow this top tip:
Top Tip! - If you can locate the radiant, try looking at a dark part of the sky around 45 degrees away from the radiant to maximise your chances of viewing meteors. This area of the sky tends to be the easiest area to spot meteors. Meteors seen closer to the radiant will appear shorter / leave shorter trails compared to others further away from the radiant.
Cool Fact! - You can tell if a meteor belongs to a specific shower by tracing a line backwards from the direction it appeared to travel in across the sky. If this line leads you close to a meteor shower’s radiant location, you can safely bet that meteor belonged to that specific meteor shower.
WHAT TIME TO LOOK / RADIANT CONTINUED
Although it can help knowing the exact location of the radiant, the main thing you need to know about a meteor shower radiant is that it has risen above the horizon. Once the radiant has risen in the sky there will be a higher chance of seeing meteors, and the higher the radiant has risen, the more meteors will be visible.
With many meteor showers (the Moon aside) the best time to head out and watch meteor showers is usually on the peak night between midnight and dawn, when the radiant is (usually) high in the sky and the skies are darkest. Don’t worry if you can’t head out this late, there should still be plenty of meteors about earlier in the night.
On the night of the 17th of November, the radiant for the Leonid meteor shower will rise above the North-Eastern horizon at roughly 22:03 GMT. From here the radiant will climb higher in the sky travelling towards the South where it will reach its highest point in the sky, 57 degrees high at roughly 06:22 on the morning of the 18th.
Although the radiant will be at its highest point at 06:22, at that time the skies will be fairly bright due to the dawn twilight. And so the best times to observe the Leonids may be during the early morning of the 18th between midnight and 5am when the radiant is high and the skies are at their darkest.
On the nights either side of the 17th, the radiant will rise and reach its highest in the sky towards the South at approximately the same times as above.
If you head out early in the night, you might also be treated to something called an “Earth grazer” meteor (long, slow, colourful meteors that skim across the edge of our atmosphere).
WHERE TO VIEW FROM / VIEWING LOCATION
The location that you do your stargazing from can make a big difference to the number of stars and in this case shooting stars that are possible to see in the night sky. The less light there is around your viewing location, the more your eyes will adapt to the darkness, the darker the skies will be and the more of the fainter meteors from a shower will be visible.
Ideally for meteor showers and generally enjoying the night sky, you want to find a safe dark location, with clear views of the sky, and as far away from sources of light such as street lights as possible.
DARK ADAPTATION / NIGHT VISION
When out meteor watching, in order to view as many meteors as possible it can help to allow your eyes become adapted to seeing faint objects in the sky.
Try not to look at sources of light such as your mobile phone or the Moon for around 15 minutes or so, this will allow your eyes become dark adapted. After around 15-30 minutes of letting your eyes adapt to the dark, the pupils of your eyes will dilate to their maximum aperture and the receptors in your eyes that are responsible for low light vision will become fully activated. This will allow your eyes to gather more light and more fainter night sky objects will be easier to see.
If you need to use a torch to light your way, we recommend using a torch that emits only red light. Red light has much less of an effect on your night vision compared to white light.
If you want to use your phone, use it on its lowest brightness and you can always cover the screen with a red film to minimise its effect on your night vision. Star map/planetarium apps such as Stellarium often have a night mode that displays only in red light which can also help you keep your night vision.
Another tip to help you see more on nights with a bright moon or a light nearby to your viewing location is to keep the moon or source of light out of sight. If you have a large tree or building nearby to your location, try blocking the moon or any sources of light from your line of sight with the tree/building. This can help stop a bright moon or lights from ruining your dark adapted night vision.
THE MOON / DARK SKIES
Sometimes the glow of the Moon can interfere with a meteor shower and spoil meteor shower views by lighting up the night sky and washing out the fainter meteors. When the Moon is bright it leaves only the brightest of meteors visible.
Fortunately for this year’s peak of the Leonid meteor shower, the Moon will not be in the sky for the entire night. This means that the skies will be free from natural light pollution and the limiting light pollution factor will be the man made light pollution of your observing location.
ASTRO DOGS RECOMMENDATIONS ON HOW BEST TO SEE THE LEONIDS
Following the advice above will help you maximise your chances of seeing meteors. But if you want our personal recommendations for this year’s Leonids:
- Considering the timing of the peak and the radiants location, the best time/date to observe the Leonids may be the early morning of the 18th of November from midnight up until around 5am.
- However, don’t worry if you can’t stay out this late there should still be lots of meteors around earlier in the night.
- If you can, try find a nice safe location away from the light pollution of towns/cities with clear views of most of the sky and with no lights nearby. Also, another tip is try to find a location with as little light pollution as possible in the directions stretching from Northeast, to East, to Southeast, to South, because of our last couple of tips:
- Meteors can be seen anywhere in the sky, but you are more likely to see meteors around 45 degrees away from the radiant which is located in the constellation of Taurus.
- Following the above tip, if you can locate the asterism known as the Plough this may be a good location to focus on. Other good locations to focus on may be the constellations of Gemini and Canis Minor.
We hope that these tips will help you catch some shooting stars! 😊
OTHER CELESTIAL TREATS TO LOOK OUT FOR
There are also quite a few other celestial treats to look out for during the night at this point in time:
- There are several other meteor showers active around this time too! As an extra meteor watching challenge try reverse-tracing the trajectories of the meteors you observe and see if you can recognise any that aren’t part of the Orionid meteor shower!
- The amazing ringed planet Saturn will be visible for most of the night until around 01:40. Saturn can be found in the constellation of Aquarius the water bearer - just below the great square of Pegasus and the asterism known as the “Circlet”.
- Look out for the bright planet Jupiter in the constellation of Gemini.
- The glowing open star cluster the Pleiades (aka the Seven Sisters) can be seen in the constellation of Taurus.
- The glow from our closest galactic neighbour – the Andromeda Galaxy can be seen by the naked eye in the constellation of Andromeda.
These are just a few of the amazing sights that can be seen in our night skies at the moment.
WHAT ELSE IS IN THE NIGHT SKY THROUGHOUT NOVEMBER?
If you would like to know more about the rest of the celestial treats that can be seen in the skies throughout this month, please head to our YouTube channel to watch our Night Sky Guide video for November 2025.
GENERAL STARGAZING/METEOR SHOWER TIPS
• You don’t need a telescope or any special equipment to view meteors, just your eyes and a bit of patience.
• If you do own binoculars or a telescope, you may want to take a closer look at some of the amazing celestial treats that are currently visible in our night skies. Saturn with its majestic ring system, Jupiter with its great weather bands and great red spot, the Pleiades with its faint nebulous glow, and the amazing Andromeda galaxy all are spectacular to view with binoculars or a telescope.
• Find a safe, dark location with clear unobstructed views and as far away from streetlights as possible. The darker your location, the more meteors you will see. However, don’t worry too much if you can’t get somewhere dark, you should still see the brighter meteors.
• Allow your eyes to adjust to the darkness and you will see more meteors. Our eyes require time to adjust to low levels of light. Try not to look at bright lights (such as a phone) for around 15-30 minutes and this will allow you to see many more meteors. If you do require to use a torch, use one which emits red light as this interferes with your night vision much less than white light.
• Be mindful of other stargazers when using a torch, you don’t want to ruin other people’s meteor shower experience!
• You don’t need to know where the radiant for a meteor shower is to be able to view meteors but if you do, it can help. Once you’ve located the radiant in the sky, looking halfway between the horizon and the zenith (directly upwards), and 45 degrees from the radiant will improve your chances of viewing meteors (however, pay attention to the whole sky as they can appear anywhere). The closer to the radiant you look, the shorter the meteors will appear. The further away from the radiant you look, the longer they will appear.
• You can tell if a meteor belongs to a specific shower by tracing a line backwards from the direction it appeared to travel in across the sky. If this line leads you to the radiant’s location, you can tell that meteor belonged to that specific meteor shower.
• You might want to take a blanket to lay on or a chair to recline in, so your neck doesn’t get strained whilst looking up.
• If you head out, wrap up well! It can get quite chilly on a night, and if you are not prepared, you may end up being too cold to stay out and see any meteors. Bring a blanket to cover yourself in and a flask with a warm drink for extra comfort. ❄️🧤🧣
• You may wish to gather some of your friends and family to share this magical occasion too. You could always host a meteor watching party with music and drinks (but no bright lights!).
GOOD LUCK AND CLEAR SKIES
Although on an average year this shower isn’t the most prolific of meteor showers, we are excited to have the chance to see some more amazing meteors and are looking forward to the Leonid meteor shower. We can’t wait to see if we witness more amazing fireballs during the rest of the meteor shower and we hope you all get to see some too!
As ever, interactions or shares are a great help, and we are eternally grateful for all your support.
Good luck everyone and clear skies!!! 💖
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