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The Leonid meteor shower will peak this weekend , bringing about 15 " shooting stars " per minute to the night sky on Friday night and early Saturday ( Nov. 17 - 18 ) . However , this yearly meteor shower — refer after the configuration Leo , the Panthera leo — may offer a fillip show this yr , with some experts suggest a 2nd peak on Sunday ( Nov. 19 ) , according to theAmerican Meteor Society .
During the peak of the Leonids , which are known for gush of meteor activeness , there will be a 23 % illume waxingcrescent lunation , which will set up soon after sunset on Friday , according to the American Meteor Society . That will leave skies sour , though a clean sky is required to see meteor . It also helps to observe from a location with as footling lightheaded pollution as potential .
Expect about 15 meteors per hour during the peak of the Leonids.
Although this weekend ’s peak propose the highest frequency of meteors , the Leonids are dynamic from Nov. 3 to Dec. 2 .
" buck lead " are actuallymeteoroids , tiny particles that strike Earth ’s atmosphere , where they heat up and vanish , release energy that ’s seeable as bar of light in the dark sky .
The particles typically come from passingcometsthat cross Earth ’s orbital way around the sun , according to Live Science ’s sister siteSpace.com . The reservoir of the Leonids is a little comet call off 55P / Tempel - Tuttle , which impose the innersolar systemevery 33 year . Its most late sojourn was in 1998 , and it ’s due back in 2031 , according toNASA .
Meteors from the Leonid meteor exhibitor are considered some of the fastest , travel at a swift 44 knot per second ( 71 km per second ) , according toNASA . That ’s too fast for you to be able to see the meteoroid through atelescope , or even a pair ofstargazing binoculars , so your nude eyes will be your good bet .
Despite relatively low rate of meteors , the Leonids are classify as a significant meteoroid shower because it ’s common to see " fireball " ( very bright meteor ) and " Earth - grazers " ( which streak close to the horizon ) and because they produce an occasional meteor tempest . Every 33 years or so , the Leonid meteor shower features at least 1,000 meteors per minute . During the 1966 event , there was a 15 - arcminute menses when there were so many visible meteors that they appeared to diminish like rain . However , the most late Leonid meteor violent storm occurred in 2002 , so the next one is n’t due until 2035 .
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Although shoot stars can appear anywhere in the night sky during a meteoroid rain shower , it make sense to attend roughly in the direction of the radiant tip , the touch from which the meteor appear to start . In this typesetter’s case , that will be in the constellation Leo , around midnight on the height night ( Friday into Saturday ) , when Leo will be rising in the east as seen from the Northern Hemisphere .
