The Leonids, probably the most well-known of all meteor showers, is predicted to succeed in its peak of exercise this yr at round 06:00 UT on the morning of 18 November. Noticed charges seen below 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 ambiance at round 71 kilometres per second, and are sometimes shiny and depart persistent trains or trails throughout the sky. Fortunately, the Moon, a waxing crescent, units at 7pm and gained’t spoil the present.
Meteors are tiny particles of fabric (referred to as meteoroids when out in house) that plunge into Earth’s higher ambiance, their ionised atoms giving rise to the streaks of sunshine that we see. Meteor showers happen at explicit occasions of the yr 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 interior 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 capturing stars in recent times, 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 unimaginable 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 residing 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 some extent within the sky referred to 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 identify.
The Leonid radiant lies in Leo’s well-known backwards query mark or ‘Sickle’ asterism, which is effectively away from the japanese horizon by 1am.
