Leonids Meteor Shower: When and How to Watch Its Peak

Our universe might be chock-full of cosmic wonder, but you can observe only a fraction of astronomical phenomena with your naked eye. Meteor showers, natural fireworks that streak brightly across the night sky, are one of them.

The latest observable meteor shower will be the Leonids, which have been active since at least Nov. 6 and are forecast to continue through Nov. 30. They reach their peak Nov. 16 to 17, or Saturday night into Sunday morning.

Meteors from the Leonids can be spotted in the constellation Leo, and they will be visible from both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The Leonids produce some of the fastest meteors each year, at 44 miles per second, with bright, long tails. But this year, spotting them may be difficult during the peak because of the nearly full moon.

To get a hint at when to watch, you can use a meter that relies on data from the Global Meteor Network showing when real-time fireball activity levels increase in the coming days.

Where meteor showers come from

There is a chance you might see a meteor on any given night, but you are most likely to catch one during a shower. Meteor showers are caused by Earth passing through the rubble trailing a comet or asteroid as it swings around the sun. This debris, which can be as small as a grain of sand, leaves behind a glowing stream of light as it burns up in Earth’s atmosphere.