Leonids Meteor Shower

 

The Leonids is a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Tempel-Tuttle. The Leonids get their name from the location of their radiant in the constellation Leo: the meteors appear to radiate from that point in the sky. 

 

This is one of the better meteor showers to observe, producing an average of 40 meteors per hour at their peak. The shower itself has a cyclic peak year every 33 years where hundreds of meteors can be seen each hour. The last of these occurred in 2001. The shower usually peaks on November 17 & 18, but you may see some meteors from November 13 - 20. The peak of the shower lies just ahead. It’s expected from about the evening of November 16 to the morning of November 18. Unfortunately, the full moon comes November 17, right in the midst of the shower’s peak. In 2013, the moon will wash out all but the very brightest meteors from view. As with most meteor showers, the best time to watch the Leonids is usually between the hours of midnight and dawn. 

Meteors in annual showers are named for the point in our sky from which they appear to radiate. This shower is named for the constellation Leo the Lion, because these meteors radiate outward from the vicinity of stars representing the Lion’s mane. If you trace the paths of Leonid meteors backward on the sky’s dome, they do seem to stream from the constellation Leo. The point in the sky from which they appear to radiate is called the radiant point.