EchoVibe

The night sky is due to light up with a spectacular display this weekend as the Leonid meteor shower hits its peak.

The annual meteor shower, known for some of the most impressive shooting stars in history, is due to see its maximum meteors falling per hour in the early hours of the morning on Saturday, November 18.

This year's shower is forecast to hit around 10 to 15 meteors per hour at its peak.

"The best night to see these this year is on the evening of November 17/18," Christopher Conselice, a professor of astrophysics at the University of Manchester in the U.K. told Newsweek. "They should appear all across the sky, and there could be as many as 20 per hour. Some of these meteors will leave spectacular trails of light for a few seconds."

The Leonids, so-called due to the meteors appearing to come from the constellation Leo, are a result of tiny particles of rock and ice falling through the Earth's atmosphere and heating up rapidly.

"These comic visitors are mostly tiny, perhaps no bigger than a grain of sand, with very few bright ones the size of a house brick," Mark Gallaway, an astronomer and science educator at the Royal Greenwich Observatory, told Newsweek. "When you see that flash of light, you do not see the actual meteor; it is too small and too far away (80km up); you see the air glowing. Unable to get out of the way of the speed meteoroid, it is compressed and heated until the air glows. Some are leftover junk not swept up by larger bodies like the Earth. Others come from larger bodies like comets."

The Leonids in particular are caused by Earth passing through the trail of debris left in the wake of the comet Tempel-Tuttle, which orbits the sun once every 33 years.

"When the comet orbits, it leaves a trail behind it due to the gravitational pull and interactions with mostly the sun, which melts and removes material which is then seen as a comet tail by observers on earth, leaving behind this debris," Conselice said. "These showers occur when the Earth's orbit intersects these pockets of debris which are within the solar system in long streams of matter left over."

The number of meteors falling every hour varies from year to year, depending on how recently the comet passed by the inner solar system, releasing more debris into its small intersection with the Earth's orbit.

"The comet that created the Leonids, Comet Tempel-Tuttle, is odd. It goes around the sun backwards (retrograde, as astronomers call it). Because of this backward motion, the dust hits the Earth head-on, meaning they have much more energy to dump into the atmosphere, making them brighter," Gallaway said. "Comet Tempel-Tuttle is still adding material to its dust trail, and every 33 years, when the comet makes another orbit, we get an exception bright meteor 'storm' when thousands of meteors might be seen per hour. Sadly 2023 isn't a storm year."

In 1833, 1866, 1966, 1999, and 2001, the Leonids had some particularly stunning displays, which is when they became meteor storms due to particularly dense clouds of debris from the comet, according to the American Meteor Society. As Tempel-Tuttle will next pass by the Earth in 2031, we are unlikely to see another meteor storm until at least after that.

"It is next due to return in 2031, so we will hope for a storm perhaps in 2032 to 2034," Sam Rolfe, an astronomer at the University of Hertfordshire, told Newsweek. "This will be easier to predict once the comet has passed through. Even if there may not be a meteor storm, as well as the normal meteor shower you might be lucky to see a fireball, caused by a larger piece of rock, vaporizing and breaking up in a more spectacular way than a typical meteor. You might see colors of orange or green due to various elements within the rock, or bright flashes as it breaks up and a trail that lasts several seconds afterwards."

Many factors may come into the quality of a potential meteor-watching excursion, including how overcast the weather is, how much light pollution is nearby, and the phase of the moon.

"You need dark skies, and the presence of for example a full moon can stop you seeing the fainter meteors. So even a good potential shower can be ruined if we have a bright Moon over many days," Daniel Brown, an associate professor in astronomy and science communication at Nottingham Trent University, told Newsweek.

Luckily, the moon will only be in a waxing crescent, at about 23 percent full during the peak, and is due to set early on Friday evening anyway, so it should not cause too much glare for watching the shooting stars.

"Second half of the night is an ideal time with Leo - the apparent origin of the meteors - creeping above 30 degrees altitude by 3 a.m.," Brown explains. "Pick a spot away from direct light and as dark as you can get. Also a place where you feel safe.

"Take your time. The human eye needs more than 20 minutes to dark adapt and see at its best even the faintest meteors. Be patient and wrap up warm. Enjoy the night and the nocturnal environment."

If you miss the peak, the meteors will still be able to be seen in the night sky for the rest of November, but their numbers will slowly drop as the Earth moves away from the comet's trail.

Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about the Leonids? Let us know via science@newsweek.com.

Uncommon Knowledge

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

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