?Leonid Meteor Shower Peaks: When To See Fireballs Over MD Skies

The unpredictable Leonid meteor shower peaks overnight Monday, giving Maryland residents the chance to see shooting stars with long-lasting trains and even some fireballs, weather permitting.

The National Weather Service forecast currently calls for mostly clear skies on Monday, with a low around 35.

Skywatchers can expect to see 10 or 15 meteors an hour streak across the sky under clear, dark skies. The Leonids aren?t as prolific as some shooting stars, but the meteors are beauties and worth a trip outside to see.

These sometimes colorful meteors are extremely fast, racing into Earth?s atmosphere at about 44 miles per second, according to NASA.

Besides fireballs ? larger explosions of light and color that persist longer than an average meteor streak ? the Leonids are also known for producing earth-grazers, which NASA explains are meteors with long, colorful tails that streak across the horizon.

Every 33 years or so, viewers on Earth may experience a Leonid storm that can peak with hundreds to thousands of meteors seen per hour, depending on the location of the observer, according to NASA.

In 1966 viewers in the United States were treated to a spectacular meteor storm when thousands per minute fell through Earth?s atmosphere in a 15-minute time period.

?There were so many meteors seen that they appeared to fall like rain,? NASA said.

The last Leonid meteor storm was in 2002.

The best time to see the Leonids ? and most other shooting star shows ? is between midnight and dawn. Experienced skywatchers will take along a lawn chair they can lean back in and take in the entire sky, and will give their eyes about 30 minutes to adjust to the darkness.

The full beaver supermoon shouldn?t interfere with viewing because the new moon is just a couple of days after the peak.

Leonid meteors have been flying all month and continue through Dec. 2, just as the Taurid meteor showers wind down after rambling through most of the fall.

Another highly anticipated shooting star show, the Geminids ? which some astronomers call the crown jewel of meteor showers ? runs from Dec. 1-21.

At its Dec. 13-14 peak, 150 shooting stars an hour may be visible under dark skies. These bright meteors also are often colorful, producing displays that can include shades of yellow, orange, green, blue and red.

The Ursids, a minor meteor shower that only produces about five or 10 shooting stars an hour, also closes out the year. The shower runs from Dec. 13-24, and peaks Dec. 21-22.