Find out how to watch the Leonid meteor bathe peaking this weekend

This 12 months, the Leonid meteor bathe will attain its peak on the evenings of 17 and 18 November. The Leonids are a very thrilling bathe, identified for his or her brilliant, fast-moving meteors. With the moon partially lit, at 19 per cent of its full brightness on 17 November, there’s a good likelihood to identify them from wherever on the earth.

What are meteor showers?

Meteors, or capturing stars, are brilliant flashes of sunshine that streak throughout the sky, showing as if from nowhere, and are gone in seconds. They’re brought on by items of particles in house, usually across the dimension of a grain of rice, getting into Earth’s environment and burning up, they usually can occur at any time of the 12 months. Particular meteor showers happen about the identical time every year, when Earth’s orbit brings us right into a cloud of particles, often left over from a comet.

Why are they known as the Leonids?

The Leonid meteor bathe is called after the constellation it seems to return from, on this case Leo, however it’s really produced by particles from comet Tempel-Tuttle, also called 55P.

How can I watch the Leonids?

The perfect time to look is after midnight. Discover a clear spot and maintain your eyes on the sky. The meteors will seem to return from Leo, which you will discover by wanting on the Plough or the Large Dipper. Search for the 2 stars on the far finish of the Plough, away from the deal with – these are referred to as pointer stars as a result of drawing a line from the underside of the Plough to the highest will level you in the direction of Polaris, the North Star. To seek out Leo, hint a line by means of the pointer stars in the other way till you attain a question-mark formed group of stars that make the pinnacle of the lion. That mentioned, you don’t have to have a look at any explicit constellation, as a result of the meteors will cross the sky in all instructions.

What number of meteors will I see?

The longer you’re looking, the larger your possibilities of recognizing meteors. The estimated peak of the Leonids will result in 15 meteors per hour. In case you are fortunate, you may additionally spot a fireball. These are produced by bigger items of particles and seem a lot brighter than typical meteors, keep seen for somewhat longer and infrequently have seen tails behind them.

Can I see comet Tempel-Tuttle?

Whereas the Leonids occur yearly, comet Tempel-Tuttle received’t be seen this 12 months. That’s as a result of it takes about 33 years to orbit the solar, spending most of that point removed from Earth. Across the time the comet reaches its closest strategy to Earth, the Leonids turn into not only a meteor bathe, however one thing referred to as a meteor storm, with over 1000 meteors seen in an hour. The final Leonid meteor storm was in 1996, so we should wait till 2029 for the following one.