Leonid Meteors, Known For Fireballs And Fast Speed, Peak This Weekend

ACROSS AMERICA — The annual Leonid meteor shower peaks this weekend. It’s not as prolific as some shooting star shows, producing only about 15 meteors an hour at its peak Friday night and Saturday morning, but it’s special in many other ways.

If the weather cooperates, skygazers won’t get much interference from the moon, which will be a thin crescent.

In typical years, the Leonids produce about 15 shooting stars an hour at the peak — and they’re lovely. Known for bright, colorful and extremely fast meteors that blaze across the sky at a rate of about 44 miles a second, the Leonids are among the fastest meteors, according to NASA.

The Leonids are also known for their fireballs, larger explosions of light and color that can persist longer than the average meteors. That’s because fireballs originate from larger bits of debris left behind in the orbital path of the 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.

This shower is also known for Earth-grazers — meteors that streak close to the horizon and are known for long, colorful tails.

The best viewing times for the Leonid meteor shower are after midnight and before dawn. They radiate outward from the stars that make up the lion’s mane in the constellation Leo, but skywatchers who stare directly at the radiant point may miss meteors that have longer tails.

You’ll also want to find a dark sky as far away as possible from city lights.

• Related: 2023 Guide To Meteor Showers And Other Celestial Events

The Leonids are also known for producing some of the most amazing meteor storms in history, but no such event is expected this year, according to meteor experts.

Experts say at least 1,000 meteors an hour must fall for a shower to be considered a storm, which they say occur 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 Leonids meteor storm ever recorded was in 1833, when up to 100,000 meteors an hour were reported. Then 33 years later, a storm occurred in 1866. That caused astronomers to predict another one in 1899, but it didn’t occur.

In fact, the next spectacular Leonid meteor storm didn’t occur until 1966, where skywatchers in the southwest U.S. reported seeing 40 to 50 meteors a second (2,400 to 3,000 per minute) for a 15-minute period during the peak. And in 2001, skywatchers reported thousands of meteors an hour over North America.

The Leonids continue through Dec. 2. The peak occurs as the Taurid meteor shower is winding down, and just as another beauty, the Geminid meteor shower, ramps up.

The Geminds run from Nov. 19-Dec. 24, peaking Dec. 13-14 with as many as 120 multicolored meteors an hour. We’ll have more on Patch as the peak approaches.

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