Time to Get Ready for the Leonids

Can you believe it’s November already?  It seems like just a few days ago we were still enjoying summer.  But, time passes and the sky changes, and new sights are looming on the horizon — among them the Leonid meteor shower.  It peaks this year on November 17, so if you’re planning to check it out, plan your observing time for around midnight on the 17th into the wee hours of the 18th.  According to MeteorBlog, the Leonids shower is the strongest one of five showers this month, and thus gives you a good chance of seeing some celestial fireworks. These streaks in the sky come from material shed by Comet Tempel-Tuttle as it orbits the Sun. Once a year, Earth’s orbit intersects that path of debris and some of the dust particles and mineral grains shed by the comet enter our atmosphere and glow as they interact with the gases in our atmosphere.  They’re called the Leonids because they appear to emanate from a region of the sky in the direction of the constellation Leo.  But, you’ll see them streak across the sky, sometimes glowing quite brightly and other times just small flashes of light.  It won’t be a “shower” in the sense of a water shower, but more like a succession of bright flashes and streaks across the sky.

Of course, for those viewers who are already getting winter weather, the Leonids presents a challenge: see shooting stars while keeping warm. It reminds me of the time I went out to see the Leonids and was wearing warm-weather gear, had blankets, etc. I sat on my car hood for about four hours, and it never ONCE occurred to me to turn the car ON and let the hood warm up.  But, I got to see some great bolides and smaller meteors, so it was worth it.

If you’re planning to go out and catch sight of some stray falling stars, plan now.  Get your warm-weather gear together, find a nice sight to view them from, and bring along some warm drink, maybe some nice music on your music player of choice, and settle in for some streaky action.

One big challenge for Leonid-watchers this year is that there’ll be a nearly full Moon to brighten up the sky. If you don’t mind the glare, it’ll give a chance to study the Moon while you’re waiting for Leonids to flare across the sky. So, it’s a win-win, provided you don’t get clouded out. All part of the fun of astronomy!