Colorful shooting stars will before long streak over the night sky during one of the most renowned yearly meteor shows. The Leonids meteor shower is required to top Sunday night into Monday morning, November 17-18.
What are the Leonids?
The Leonid meteor shower happens each year when Earth goes through a haze of flotsam and jetsam abandoned by comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. As the garbage crashes into the air, it makes shooting stars.
The Leonids get their name from the group of stars Leo — the meteors seem to transmit starting there in the sky. They are dynamic for the majority of November, yet will possibly turn out to be unmistakably obvious when they top this end of the week.
As indicated by NASA, stargazers can expect pinnacles of around 15 meteors for each hour this year. Leonids are commonly splendid and beautiful falling stars, with a speed of 44 miles for every subsequent that makes determined trails over the sky.
Every 33 years, the Leonids produce a meteor storm as the comet makes its nearest go to the sun, brought about by especially thick trash, that produces in excess of 1,000 meteors for every hour. Another isn’t normal until 2031.
“The great Leonid meteor storm of 1833 did more to spawn the study of meteors than any other single event,” the American Meteor Society said.
When and where to watch the Leonids
So as to see a meteor shower, get away from the splendid lights of your city and go to an area with an unmistakable perspective on the night sky. They won’t completely come into see until after 12 PM, as indicated by NASA, as the meteors slam into the environment head-on.
Face east, lie level on your back and gaze upward, enabling your eyes around thirty minutes to conform to the darkness. Look out for fireballs, which are bigger blasts of light and shading that can last longer than normal shooting stars. The show will go on until day break.
Because of the idea of their circle, Leonids enter Earth’s climate at the quickest meteor speeds conceivable. Along these lines, in spite of the moderately gentle expectations during the current year’s shower, stargazers should even now have the option to see the dependable green streaks left afterward.
Unfortunately, the moon will be 80% full during the shower’s pinnacle, so visibility will be troublesome. The best perspectives will originate from hindering the moon from your field of vision.
On the off chance that you can’t get a reasonable perspective on the shower from your area, there is normally a meteor livestream facilitated by NASA that can be viewed from the solace of your bed.
After the Leonids, the following meteor shower to keep an eye out for is the Geminids, which will top this year the night of December 13.
