LEONID METEOR SHOWER PEAKS TONIGHT! 17/11/2024

Comet of Origin – Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. 

Radiant – Leo 

Shower activity between – 6th November – 30th of November 

Peak activity – 17th – 18th November

Peak meteor count – up to 15 meteors an hour in perfect conditions 

As mentioned in an earlier post, we have a number of meteor showers currently active including minor meteor showers such as the Southern Taurids, Northern Taurids and the Leonids meteor shower. The Leonids will be the focus of this post. 

The Leonids meteor shower peaks on the 17th - 18th and will continue to be active over the next couple of weeks (up to 30/11/24)! While the Leonids are typically one of the more prominent meteor showers of the month, the almost full Moon will be shining brightly all night and will be creating a lot of natural light pollution interference that will hamper this year’s shower. However, it is still worth looking out for shooting stars if you happen to be out this evening! This meteor shower is known for fireballs and these will be bright enough to see despite the bright moon! 😊

If you would like more information on the Leonid meteor shower, please read on. 

The Leonids are so named because the radiant from which they radiate from is located within the famous constellation of Leo the lion. 

While not one of the most prolific of meteor showers of the year, the Leonids are 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 also 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. However, you are much more likely to witness more meteors including the fainter meteors if you head to a dark location. On 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, and they clearly outshone the bright full moon. They were incredible sights to witness.

The Leonids 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! 🙀☄️

Most of the major meteor showers originate from comet debris. Comets are mostly made of ice embedded with dust, dirt and rocks. When a comet travels to the inner solar system, heat from the sun vaporizes some of the ice, and some of its dust flies off into space. Some of the material envelopes the icy nucleus in a fuzzy glow called a coma. Energy from the Sun pushes the remainder behind the comet to form a tail. Over time, debris spreads out along its orbit. 

When Earth intersects the orbit of a comet, we slam into the dust and debris of the comet. The debris from the parent comet for the Leonids strikes our atmosphere at 160,000 miles an hour. This is incredibly fast, they in fact arrive faster than any of the other annual meteor showers. 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 particle strikes the upper atmosphere at high speed, it heats up to around 1,650° C and starts to glow. The grain also compresses and heats the air in front of it, exciting atoms like oxygen to radiate light. Together, the two processes produce the bright, needle-like flashes called meteors of "shooting stars." 

The Leonids are the result of debris from 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. 

Comet Tempel-Tuttle takes around 33.25 years to orbit the sun, it was last seen from Earth in 1998 and will not enter the inner solar system again until 2031. 

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 Tempel-Tuttle revisits the inner solar system. 

The 2024 Leonids meteor peak is on the night of the 17th into the early hours of 18th November, this is theoretically the best time to view them if you are treated to clear skies, however the shower will continue to be active until around November 30th. This means there will be plenty of time to look out for meteors over the next couple of weeks. 

Sadly, the moon is 98% illuminated and up all night during this year’s peak. This means that most of the faint meteors from the shower will be drowned out by the Moons bright light. However, despite the bright moon, the Leonids are known for their bright meteors, so you could still see some during the brighter moonlit nights. Also by next week the Moon will be rising later and later, so we will have some darkness before the Moon rises to look out for meteors also. 💖

As with many meteor showers, typically the best time to head out and watch this display will be between midnight and dawn, as the radiant for the Leonids will be higher in the sky at this time (this means your chances of seeing more meteors increased). However, if you can’t head out this late, don’t worry. There should still be meteors about earlier on. 

The radiant (point in the sky where the meteors appear to radiate from) for this shower rises at roughly 22:00pm, so we recommend heading out and watching from around this time. However, if you head out slightly earlier you might be treated to something called an “Earth grazer” meteor (a long, slow, colourful meteor travelling across the evening sky that only just grazes Earth’s atmosphere) before the radiant rises. 

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. 

Unfortunately, the Moon will be 98% illuminated for the peak activity and will be up all night, and therefore may spoil the show somewhat. In the nights to follow, the Moon will be waning further and rising later until the 1st of December where it reaches the new moon phase. While the Leonids peak is tonight, because the Moon is waning and rising later each night, it may be worth trying to catch them throughout next week too when there is less moonlight interference. But like we mentioned earlier, this meteor shower is known for its bright fireballs, so if you are treated to clear skies tonight it may still be worth a look.

Meteors can all be traced back to a particular point in the sky known as the radiant. The radiant is the point in the sky where all of the meteors belonging to a shower appear to radiate from. Because of this, meteor showers are typically named after the constellation that their radiant lies within. 

The radiant for the Leonids meteor shower can be located in the constellation of Leo the lion, which can be found beneath the constellations of Lynx and Leo Minor. The radiant of the Leonid meteor shower rises in the North-East at about 22:00, before traveling Eastwards and then climbing further South as the night goes on.

Meteors can be seen almost anywhere in the sky but knowing where the radiant is can help you maximise your chances of seeing shooting stars. Firstly, find the constellation of Leo which is easily recognisable by the bright blue star Regulus at the constellations bottom right, just above Regulus you will be able to find a group of stars that looks a little like a backwards question mark. This is an asterism known as the “sickle” and is the head of Leo the lion. The radiant for the Leonids meteor shower is within this sickle shape.

Typically it is recommended to look 45 degrees away from the radiant and in any direction, however tonight the bright almost full Moon will be around 80 degrees to the right of the Leonid radiant, so we recommend keeping your back to the Moon and looking between the North-East and North-West throughout the night.

If you follow this advice, you will hopefully maximise your chances of seeing meteors and it may be possible that you will see more meteors with longer trails. 

The radiants of several other meteor showers (including the Northern Taurids, Southern Taurids, and November Orionids) will also be ascending high in the South East, travelling South and then Westwards throughout the night too. So make sure to pay attention to the whole sky to increase your chances of seeing more meteors. 

If you can, head somewhere with as little light pollution as possible, with clear views of the skies. The darker your location, the more faint meteors you will be able to see. Don’t worry if you can’t, even if you can’t get anywhere very dark, you should still see the brighter meteors.

• No special equipment is required, just your eyes and dark skies. 

• Find a safe, dark location as far away from streetlights as possible. The darker your location, the more meteors you will see. 

• Our eyes require time to adjust to low levels of light. Try not to look at bright lights (such as a phone or the Moon) for around 15-30 minutes and this will allow you to see many more meteors. Although you should be able to see fairly well with the bright moonlight, if you do require to use a torch, use one which emits red light as this interferes with your night vision less than white light. 

• 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. 

• We recommend keeping your back to the Moon, and possibly focus on the area of sky between the North-East and North-West. This way you will be looking into the darker portion of the night sky and will have a greater chance of viewing meteors.

• Another tip that can help minimise the Moons effect on your meteor shower experience is to use an object such as a nearby building or tree to block the Moon from your view. Doing this will make sure your eyes stay as dark adapted as possible.

• 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. It is also advisable to dress warm, bring a blanket to cover yourself in and a flask with a warm drink for extra comfort. 

We hope you find this information interesting and helpful. We have already seen quite a few meteors recently when out and about. We can’t wait to see if we witness any amazing fireballs during the rest of the Leonid meteor shower.

As ever, interactions or shares are a great help and we are eternally grateful for your support. 

We wish you all good luck and clear skies. 💖