Look out for the Leonids!

The Leonids, one of the well-known of all meteor showers, is predicted to succeed in its peak of exercise this 12 months at round 06:00 UT on the morning of 18 November. Noticed charges seen beneath good situations and darkish skies needs to be within the area of simply 10 to fifteen an hour. Leonids are among the many swiftest of meteors, smashing by way of the higher environment at round 71 kilometres per second, and are sometimes brilliant and go away persistent trains or trails throughout the sky. Fortunately, the Moon, a waxing crescent, units at 7pm and received’t spoil the present.

Meteors are tiny particles of fabric (known as meteoroids when out in house) that plunge into Earth’s higher environment, their ionised atoms giving rise to the streaks of sunshine that we see. Meteor showers happen at specific instances of the 12 months when Earth encounters the orbital stream of this materials left over from periodic comets. The Leonids mum or dad comet is 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, which returns to the internal Photo voltaic System each 33 years. Because the Solar warms its floor icy floor it releases gases and dirt, replenishing the Leonid’s provide of fabric.

The Leonids have been producing solely modest charges of taking pictures stars lately, however the bathe is answerable for spectacular, landmark observing occasions of the previous linked to the the return of comet is 55P/Tempel–Tuttle. In 1833, it’s thought an unbelievable 100,000 meteors per hour have been skilled. For just a few years centred across the time of the comet’s following return, between 1866 (most famously) and 1868, yearly storms have been skilled. The storms of 1966, 1999, 2001 (the later two storms related to 55P/Tempel-Tuttle’s final perihelion passage of February 1998) are probably the most spectacular storms in dwelling reminiscence. The comet’s subsequent return will happen in Might 2031, with charges anticipated to select up from 2027.

Meteors from a bathe seem to emanate from a degree within the sky known as the radiant and every meteor bathe has its personal distinctive radiant and is called for the constellation the place its radiant is located; the Leonids radiant lies in Leo, therefore their title. 

The Leonid radiant lies in Leo’s well-known backwards query mark or ‘Sickle’ asterism, which is nicely away from the jap horizon by 1am.

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