Leonid Meteor Shower: When To See Peak In Washington

WASHINGTON — Skies are gray above Washington and likely to remain dour over the coming winter, but there is one bright spot for us to look forward to: the Leonid meteor shower, which will light up the skies later this month.

The Leonids will peak overnight Nov. 16-17. The National Weather Service forecast calls for cloudy skies above Washington, but the bright meteors may be visible through the clouds. The crescent moon will be only about 5 percent illuminated during the peak, so it also shouldn’t interfere too much with your sky gazing.

The Leonids are particularly famous among star gazers, as they can sometimes become a "meteor storm" and produce nearly 100,000 shooting stars an hour when they peak. That probably won't happen this year, however— the last big Leonid meteor storm was reported in the southwest U.S. in 1966, and the peak didn’t come close to approaching that number. But the show was still memorable, and those who saw it reported seeing 40 to 50 meteors per second, about 2,400 to 3,000 per minute.

The Leonid meteor shower occurs when the Earth crosses the orbital path of Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, which litters its orbital path with debris. The debris vaporizes when it enters the Earth’s atmosphere, causing the falling stars.

Experts say at least 1,000 meteors an hour must fall for a shower to be considered a storm, which they say happens about every 33 years, the amount of time it takes Tempel-Tuttle to orbit the sun. The parent comet releases fresh debris with every orbit, increasing the likelihood of a meteor storm.

The greatest Leonid meteor storm ever recorded was in 1833, when up to 100,000 meteors an hour were reported, according to Earthsky.org. Then 33 years later, a storm occurred in 1866. That prompted astronomers to predict another one in 1899, but it didn’t happen: the next spectacular Leonid meteor storm didn’t occur until the aforementioned storm in 1966.

Realistically though, anyone checking the skies for the Leonids this month should tamp their expectations somewhat: unless we get one of those rare storms, the Leonid meteor shower reliably produces about 10 or 15 shooting stars an hour.

The best time to start scanning the sky for meteors is around 3 o’clock the morning of Nov. 17. While the meteors won’t fly at the amazing rates they did 54 years ago, patient stargazers should be rewarded if they spend a couple of hours outside.

Experts recommend you get as far away from city lights as possible. You won’t need binoculars or a telescope; in fact, they might limit your view to a single spot in the sky. Though the meteors appear to radiate from the constellation Leo, they can be seen anywhere in the sky. It’s bound to be cold — temperatures will be in the low to mid 4os — so be sure to bundle up.

"Go outside, find a dark sky, lie flat on your back and look straight up," Cooke told Space.com, "and be prepared to spend a couple of hours outside."