In 2024, the famous Leonid meteor shower will appear in the sky during the moon between November 17 and 18, as its highest peak, although the cosmic phenomenon began on November 3 and is expected to conclude on December 2.
According to astronomers, the peak of this beautiful phenomenon will be from the evening of November 17 until the morning of November 18. However, the morning of November 17 may also be worthwhile.
This meteor shower has as its radiant the highest point in the sky at dawn, precisely in the constellation Leo, and will arrive just after the full moon in November, which is scheduled to end on November 15.
The history of the Leonid meteor shower
Even under ideal conditions, in a dark, moonless sky, you might see 10 to 15 meteors per hour from the Leonids, as a low volume of meteors is expected. This is unlike other years, such as 1966, when in a span of 15 minutes, thousands of meteors fell per minute, in a phenomenon that repeats in cycles of between 33 to 34 years.
This meteor shower comes from the Tempel-Tuttle comet, officially known as 55P/Temple-Tuttle and was discovered by the astronomer William Tempel, from the Marseille Observatory (France), on the afternoon of December 19, 1865. He located the meteor in a part of the sky, under the North Star, near the star Beta Ursae Minoris.
The discovery spread throughout Europe, but the news did not reach the United States, where almost simultaneously Horace Tuttle of the Harvard University Observatory detected the comet 17 days later, on the afternoon of January 5, 1866.
The scientists calculated an orbit of 33.17 years and the meteor shower occurs in mid-November, when it approaches Earth’s orbit.
On its last visit to Earth’s atmosphere in early 1998, the comet was bright enough to be seen with binoculars. This passage produced other impressive meteor showers in 1999-2001. The next visit of 55P/Temple-Tuttle to Earth will be in early 2031.
Which direction should I look to see the Leonid meteor shower?
The meteors from annual showers are named after the point in the sky from which they appear to originate. This particular case comes from the constellation Leo, as they radiate from the stars that represent the Lion’s Mane. They appear to originate near the star Algieba, in the constellation Leo.
It is not necessary to know the location of the radiant point of a meteor shower in order to observe it, as meteors are not usually visible until they are about 30 degrees from their radiant point and extend from the radiant in all directions.
Thus, the Leonids – like the meteors of all annual showers – will appear in all parts of the sky.