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Watch The Leonid Meteor Shower This Weekend 
  
 Enlarge this image toggle caption NASA/Getty Images NASA/Getty Images 
  
 While some might say the weekend before Thanksgiving is too early for making a holiday wish, the Leonid meteor shower brings plenty of opportunities to do so every year around that time. 
  
 This year the shower of shooting stars is expected to peak late Saturday night and into Sunday morning. 
  
 Always occurring in mid-November, an average of about 15 meteors per hour streak across the night sky during the shower's yearly peak, according to NASA. 
  
 The cascade will be competing with a waxing gibbous moon, so the best time to watch is after the moon has set but before dawn. 
  
 NASA suggests finding a viewing site far away from city or street lights and giving your eyes time to adjust to the darkness. 
  
 "In less than 30 minutes in the dark, your eyes will adapt and you will begin to see meteors," the space agency writes. 
  
 Also, observers should be patient and prepared to get cozy, bringing a sleeping bag, blanket or lawn chair. They should also check the weather — clouds can ruin the view, and being cold can ruin the experience. 
  
 In the night sky, it will appear like the meteors are coming from the constellation Leo, which gives the shower its name. However, this is neither their origin nor the best part of the sky to look for them. 
  
 "It is actually better to view the Leonids away from the radiant: They will appear longer and more spectacular from this perspective," NASA notes. 
  
 The meteors themselves come from the comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, which completes an orbit around the sun every 33 years. When the comet passes the sun, a debris trail is created. The Earth then passes through the cloud of space dust every November. 
  
 This process means that every 33 years or so viewers on Earth may experience a Leonid storm, which is much greater in intensity than a Leonid shower and can produce hundreds to thousands of meteors per hour. 
  
 "These outbursts of meteor activity are best seen when the parent object, comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, is near perihelion (closest approach to the sun). Yet it is not the fresh material we see from the comet, but rather debris from earlier returns that also happen to be most dense at the same time," writes the American Meteor Society. 
  
 One such outburst occurred in 1966, with thousands of meteors blazing across the sky during the course of 15 minutes. 
  
 NASA hosts a webpage that compiles eyewitness accounts from that 1966 storm, and one of those eyewitnesses, Mike Jones, who was a cadet at Fort Wolters near Mineral Wells, Texas, at the time, says he observed dozens of meteors every second. 
  
 "The 1966 Leonid storm will always remain a natural wonder I'll never forget, the night the sky rained fire!" Jones wrote. ||||| Come early Sunday morning (Nov. 18), the famous Leonid meteor shower will reach its peak, with lesser numbers expected on the preceding and following mornings. 
  
 According to Margaret Campbell-Brown and Peter Brown in the 2018 Observer's Handbook of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Earth will pass through the thickest part of the Leonid swarm at 7 p.m. EST (2300 GMT) on Nov. 17. But the best time to look will be during the after-midnight hours of Sunday morning, once the source the meteors appear to stream from, called the radiant, comes above the horizon for observers in North America. The meteors appear to fly away from a point located within the Sickle of Leo (hence the name "Leonids"). 
  
 Actually, the very best time to observe the Leonids is as close to dawn as possible. This is when viewers will be able to avoid glare from a waxing gibbous moon (which sets before 2 a.m. local time) and the radiant will climb well up in the southeastern sky. [Leonid Meteor Shower: When, Where & How to See It] 
  
 This NASA chart shows where to look to see the 2018 Leonid meteor shower overnight on Nov. 17 and Nov. 18. Credit: NASA 
  
 Under ideal dark-sky conditions, a single observer can expect to see about 10 to 15 of these ultraswift meteors each hour. They ram into our upper atmosphere at 45 miles (72 kilometers) per second — faster than any other meteor shower. As such, as many as half leave visible trails, and every once in a great while you might be treated to an outstandingly bright meteor (called a "fireball") or a meteor that silently explodes in a strobe-like flash along its path (called a "bolide"). Such meteors become so bright they can cast distinct shadows. 
  
 Since November mornings tend to be quite chilly, verging on downright cold, the best suggestion is to be sure and bundle up. The best piece of equipment for meteor watching is a long lounge chair in which you can lie back and look up without putting any stress on your neck. Look up into the sky, keep your eyes moving around and don't stare at any one place. Pretty soon you'll see a streak in the sky; mentally trace the streak backward. When another streak comes by, trace that backward also and see if it came from the same region of the sky as the first. 
  
 By the time a third streak appears, you should be able to verify that the emanation point is indeed within the Sickle, a backward question-mark pattern of stars that marks the head and mane of Leo, the Lion. 
  
 What most people remember about the Leonids are the spectacular meteor displays that they staged during the 1998 through 2002 time frame. In some cases, meteors fell at rates of up to 3,000 per hour! The cause of these stupendous displays was Earth's interaction with dense streamers of dust trailing immediately behind Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, which sheds dusty comet debris into space each time it passes the sun at roughly 33-year intervals. The comet reached the far end of its orbit, called aphelion, in 2014, so the Leonids have been weak in recent years. 
  
 Unfortunately, on its way back in toward the sun, the comet will pass close to Jupiter, whose potent gravitational field will noticeably perturb the orbit of the comet and its accompanying dense trails of dust. So, stupendous "storms" of meteors are not likely to occur on the next Leonid cycle. Still, there is a chance of some significant activity. Russian meteor expert Mikhail Maslov has predicted that on Nov. 19, 2034, dust trails shed by the comet in 1699 and 1866 will partially overlap upon their interaction with Earth, possibly producing meteor rates in the many hundreds per hour. Not a meteor "storm," but still potentially a very impressive display. 
  
 Mark your calendars! 
  
 Editor's note: If you snap an amazing Leonid meteor shower photo you'd like to share with Space.com and our news partners for a possible story or image gallery, please send your photos to our staff at spacephotos@futurenet.com. 
  
 Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, the Farmers' Almanac and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for Verizon FiOS1 News in New York's Lower Hudson Valley. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook. Original article on Space.com. |||||
– It's time again for the Leonids, the meteor shower repeated annually in mid-November. It comes as Earth passes through a trail of debris left by the comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, which orbits the sun once every 33 years. Earth will pass through the thickest part of debris at 7pm EST Saturday, but the best time for viewing begins around 2am local time Sunday, after the waxing gibbous moon has set, per Space.com. NASA, noting viewers should allow up to 30 minutes for their eyes to adjust to the darkness, predicts an average of 15 meteors per hour will be visible and appear to come from the constellation Leo—hence the shower's name. However, "it is actually better to view the Leonids away from the radiant," NASA says, per NPR. "They will appear longer and more spectacular from this perspective." (Check out more astronomy stories.)
Skriv en sammanfattning baserad på denna artikel: Titta på Leonid Meteor Shower Denna helg Förstora denna bild växla bildtext NASA/Getty Images NASA/Getty Images Medan vissa kanske säger helgen innan Thanksgiving är för tidigt för att göra en semester önskemål, Leonid meteorregn ger massor av möjligheter att göra det varje år runt den tiden. I år kommer regnet av stjärnfall att nå sin höjdpunkt sent på lördagskvällen och in på söndagsmorgonen. Alltid inträffar i mitten av november, i genomsnitt cirka 15 meteorer per timme strimma över natthimlen under regnets årliga topp, enligt NASA. Kaskaden kommer att konkurrera med en vaxande gibbig måne, så den bästa tiden att titta på är efter månen har gått ner men före gryningen. NASA föreslår att du hittar en utsiktsplats långt från staden eller gatubelysningen och ger dina ögon tid att anpassa sig till mörkret. "Om mindre än 30 minuter i mörkret kommer dina ögon att anpassa sig och du kommer att börja se meteorer", skriver rymdbyrån. Observatörer bör också ha tålamod och vara beredda på att bli mysiga och ta med sig en sovsäck, filt eller gräsmatta. De bör också kontrollera vädret — molnen kan förstöra utsikten, och kylan kan förstöra upplevelsen. På natthimlen kommer det att framstå som meteorerna kommer från stjärnbilden Leo, vilket ger duschen dess namn. Detta är dock varken deras ursprung eller den bästa delen av himlen att leta efter dem. "Det är faktiskt bättre att se Leoniderna bort från det strålande: De kommer att synas längre och mer spektakulära ur detta perspektiv", konstaterar NASA. Meteorerna själva kommer från kometen 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, som fullbordar en omloppsbana runt solen vart 33:e år. När kometen passerar solen skapas ett spillrornas spår. Jorden passerar sedan genom molnet av rymdstoft varje november. Denna process innebär att varje 33 år eller så kan tittare på jorden uppleva en Leonidstorm, som är mycket större i intensitet än en Leonidskur och kan producera hundratusentals meteorer per timme. "Dessa utbrott av meteoraktivitet ses bäst när moderobjektet, kometen 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, är nära perihelion (närmast närmande till solen). Ändå är det inte det färska material vi ser från kometen, utan snarare spillror från tidigare returer som också råkar vara tätast samtidigt, skriver American Meteor Society. Ett sådant utbrott inträffade 1966, och tusentals meteorer flammade upp över himlen under loppet av 15 minuter. NASA är värd för en webbsida som sammanställer ögonvittnesskildringar från stormen 1966, och ett av dessa ögonvittnen, Mike Jones, som var kadett vid Fort Wolters nära Mineral Wells i Texas, säger att han observerade dussintals meteorer varje sekund. "Den Leonidiska stormen från 1966 kommer alltid att förbli ett naturligt underverk jag aldrig kommer att glömma, natten då himlen regnade eld!" Jones skrev. Kom tidigt på söndagsmorgonen (18 november) når det berömda meteorregnet i Leonid sin höjdpunkt, och mindre antal väntas på de föregående och följande morgnarna. Enligt Margaret Campbell-Brown och Peter Brown i 2018 års Observer's Handbook of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, kommer jorden att passera den tjockaste delen av Leonidsvärmen klockan 19.00 EST (2300 GMT) den 17 november. Men den bästa tiden att titta kommer att vara under eftermidnattstimmarna på söndag morgon, när källan meteorerna verkar strömma från, kallas den strålande, kommer över horisonten för observatörer i Nordamerika. Meteorerna verkar flyga iväg från en punkt som ligger inom Sickle of Leo (därav namnet "Leonids"). Det bästa tillfället att observera Leoniderna är så nära gryningen som möjligt. Det är då tittarna kommer att kunna undvika bländning från en vaxande gibbig måne (som går upp före klockan 2 lokal tid) och den strålande kommer att klättra väl upp på den sydöstra himlen. [Leonid Meteor Shower: När, Var & Hur man kan se det] Detta NASA-diagram visar var man kan titta för att se 2018 Leonid meteorregn över natten den 17 november och 18 november. Kreditera: NASA Under idealiska mörka-sky förhållanden, en enda observatör kan förvänta sig att se cirka 10 till 15 av dessa ultraswift meteorer varje timme. De tränger in i vår övre atmosfär i 72 kilometer i sekunden — snabbare än något annat meteorregn. Som sådan lämnar så många som hälften synliga stigar, och då och då kan man bli behandlad med en enastående ljus meteor (kallad "fireball") eller en meteor som tyst exploderar i en strobliknande blixt längs sin bana (kallad en "bolid"). Sådana meteorer blir så ljusa att de kan kasta tydliga skuggor. Eftersom novembermorgnar tenderar att vara ganska kyliga, med kalla och kalla, är det bästa förslaget att vara säker och bunta ihop. Den bästa utrustningen för meteorskådning är en lång loungestol där du kan ligga tillbaka och titta upp utan att lägga någon påfrestning på halsen. Titta upp mot himlen, håll ögonen i rörelse och stirra inte på ett ställe. Ganska snart kommer du att se en strimma i himlen; mentalt spåra strimma bakåt. När en annan strimma kommer förbi, spåra den bakåt också och se om den kom från samma region på himlen som den första. När en tredje strimma dyker upp bör du kunna verifiera att emanationspunkten verkligen finns inom Sickle, ett bakåtriktat frågeteckenmönster av stjärnor som markerar Leos, Lejonets, huvud och man. Vad de flesta minns om Leoniderna är de spektakulära meteorskärmar som de iscensatte under tidsramen 1998 till 2002. I vissa fall föll meteorerna med upp till 3.000 i timmen! Orsaken till dessa häpnadsväckande uppvisningar var Jordens interaktion med täta strömmar av damm som släpar omedelbart bakom Komet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, som kastar dammigt kometskrot ut i rymden varje gång den passerar solen med ungefär 33 års intervall. Kometen nådde längst bort i sin omloppsbana, kallad aphelion, år 2014, varför Leoniderna har varit svaga på senare år. Dessvärre kommer kometen på väg tillbaka in mot solen att passera nära Jupiter, vars kraftiga gravitationsfält märkbart kommer att störa kometens bana och dess åtföljande täta dammstigar. Så det är inte troligt att enorma "stormar" av meteorer inträffar under nästa Leonidcykel. Men det finns ändå en risk för någon betydande verksamhet. Den ryske meteorexperten Michail Maslov har förutspått att den 19 november 2034 kommer dammspår som fällts av kometen 1699 och 1866 delvis att överlappa deras interaktion med Jorden, möjligen producera meteorhastigheter i de många hundra per timme. Inte en meteor "storm", men fortfarande potentiellt en mycket imponerande uppvisning. Markera era kalendrar! Redaktörens anmärkning: Om du knäpper en fantastisk Leonid meteor regn foto du vill dela med Space.com och våra nyhetspartners för en möjlig berättelse eller bildgalleri, skicka dina bilder till vår personal på spacephotos@futurenet.com. Joe Rao tjänstgör som instruktör och gästföreläsare vid New Yorks Hayden Planetarium. Han skriver om astronomi för tidskriften Natural History, Farmers' Almanac och andra publikationer, och han är även meteorolog på kameran för Verizon FiOS1 News i New Yorks Lower Hudson Valley. Följ oss på Twitter @Spacedotcom och på Facebook. Originalartikel på Space.com. Â°°
Write a summary based on this article: Watch Leonid Meteor Shower This weekend Enlarge this image toggle caption NASA/Getty Images NASA/Getty Images While some might say the weekend before Thanksgiving is too early to make a holiday request, Leonid meteor shower provides plenty of opportunities to do so every year around that time. This year, the rain of star falls will peak late Saturday night and into Sunday morning. Always occurs in mid-November, an average of about 15 meteors per hour streaking across the night sky under the annual peak of rain, according to NASA. The cascade will compete with a waxing gibbly moon, so the best time to watch is after the moon has gone down but before dawn. NASA suggests that you find a viewpoint far from the city or street lights and give your eyes time to adjust to the darkness. "In less than 30 minutes in the dark, your eyes will adapt and you will begin to see meteors," writes the Space Agency. Observers should also be patient and prepared to get cozy and bring a sleeping bag, blanket or lawn. They should also control the weather — the clouds can destroy the view, and the cold can ruin the experience. In the night sky, it will appear as the meteors come from the constellation Leo, giving the shower its name. However, this is neither their origin nor the best part of the sky to look for them. "It's actually better to see the Leonids away from the radiant: They're going to appear longer and more spectacular from this perspective," NASA notes. The meteors themselves come from the comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, which completes an orbit around the sun every 33 years. As the comet passes the sun, a trail of debris is created. The earth then passes through the cloud of space dust every November. This process means that every 33 years or so viewers on Earth can experience a Leonid storm, which is much greater in intensity than a Leonid shower and can produce hundreds of thousands of meteors per hour. "These eruptions of meteor activity are best seen when the mother object, the comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, is near perihelion (closest approach to the sun). Yet it is not the fresh material we see from the comet, but rather debris from previous returns that also happens to be densest at the same time, writes the American Meteor Society. Such an eruption occurred in 1966, and thousands of meteors blazed up across the sky over the course of 15 minutes. NASA hosts a website compiling eyewitness accounts from the 1966 storm, and one of these eyewitnesses, Mike Jones, who was a cadet at Fort Wolters near Mineral Wells, Texas, says he observed dozens of meteors every second. "The Leonid Storm of 1966 will always remain a natural miracle I will never forget, the night the sky rained fire!" Jones wrote. Come early Sunday morning (18 November) the famous Leonid meteor shower peaks, and smaller numbers are expected in the previous and subsequent mornings. According to Margaret Campbell-Brown and Peter Brown in the 2018 Observer's Handbook of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, the earth will pass the thickest part of the Leonid Warm at 19.00 EST (2300 GMT) on November 17. But the best time to watch will be in the after-midnight hours of Sunday morning, when the source meteors seem to flow from, called the radiant, coming over the horizon for observers in North America. The meteors seem to fly away from a point located within Sickle of Leo (hence the name "Leonids"). The best opportunity to observe the Leonids is as close to dawn as possible. That's when viewers will be able to avoid glare from a waxing gibbly moon (which rises before 2 a.m. local time) and the radiant one will climb well up into the southeast sky. [Leonid Meteor Shower: When, Where & How to See It] This NASA chart shows where to look to see 2018 Leonid meteor shower overnight on November 17 and November 18. Credit: NASA Under ideal dark-sky conditions, a single observer can expect to see about 10 to 15 of these ultraswift meteors every hour. They penetrate our upper atmosphere for 72 kilometers per second — faster than any other meteor shower. As such, as many as half leave visible paths, and occasionally one can be treated with an outstanding light meteor (called a "fireball") or a meteor that silently explodes in a strob-like flash along its orbit (called a "bolid"). Such meteors become so bright that they can cast clear shadows. As November mornings tend to be quite chilly, with cold and cold, the best suggestion is to be safe and bundled together. The best equipment for meteor viewing is a long lounge chair where you can lie back and look up without putting any strain on your neck. Look up to the sky, keep your eyes moving, and don't stare at a place. Pretty soon you'll see a streak in the sky; mentally tracking streak backwards. When another streak comes by, track it backwards as well and see if it came from the same region of the sky as the first. When a third streak appears, you should be able to verify that the emanation point really exists within Sickle, a backward question mark pattern of stars marking Leos, Lion's, head and man. What most people remember about the Leonids are the spectacular meteor screens they staged during the 1998 to 2002 timeframe. In some cases, the meteors fell by up to 3,000 an hour! The reason for these amazing displays was Earth's interaction with dense streams of dust that drags immediately behind Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, which throws dusty comet debris into space every time it passes the sun at approximately 33 years intervals. The comet reached the farthest of its orbit, called aphelion, in 2014, so Leonids have been weak in recent years. Unfortunately, the comet heading back into the sun will pass near Jupiter, whose powerful gravitational fields will noticeably disrupt the comet's course and its accompanying dense dust paths. So it is unlikely that huge "storms" of meteors occur during the next Leonid cycle. However, there is a risk of some significant activity. Russian meteor expert Mikhail Maslov has predicted that on 19 November 2034, dust tracks dropped by the comet in 1699 and 1866 will partially overlap their interaction with Earth, possibly producing meteor speeds in the many hundreds per hour. Not a meteor "storm", but still potentially a very impressive display. Mark your calendars! Editor's note: If you snap a fantastic Leonid meteor rain photo you want to share with Space.com and our news partners for a possible story or picture gallery, send your photos to our staff at spacephotos@futurenet.com. Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, Farmers' Almanac and other publications, and he is also a meteorologist on camera for Verizon FiOS1 News in New York's Lower Hudson Valley. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook. Original article at Space.com. <unk>
– Det är dags igen för Leoniderna, meteorregnet upprepas årligen i mitten av november. Den kommer när jorden passerar genom ett spår av skräp som lämnats av kometen 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, som kretsar runt solen en gång vart 33:e år. Jorden kommer att passera genom den tjockaste delen av skräp på 7:00 EST lördag, men den bästa tiden för visning börjar runt 2:00 lokal tid söndag, efter den vaxande gibbous månen har satt, per Space.com. NASA, notera tittare bör tillåta upp till 30 minuter för deras ögon att anpassa sig till mörkret, förutspår ett genomsnitt av 15 meteorer per timme kommer att synas och verkar komma från stjärnbilden Leo-därav duschens namn. Men "det är faktiskt bättre att se Leonids bort från den strålande", säger NASA, per NPR. "De kommer att framstå som längre och mer spektakulära ur det här perspektivet." (Kolla in fler astronomiberättelser.)
“It’s time again for the Leonids, the meteor shower is repeated annually in mid-November. It comes as the earth passes through a trail of debris left by the comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, which orbits the sun once every 33 years. The Earth will pass through the thickest part of debris on 7:00 EST Saturday, but the best time for viewing begins around 2:00 local time Sunday, after the waxing gibbous moon has set, per Space.com. NASA, noting viewers should allow up to 30 minutes for their eyes to adapt to the dark, predicting an average of 15 meteors per hour will be visible and appears to come from the constellation Leo-hence the shower's name. But "it's actually better to see Leonids away from the radiant," NASA says, per NPR. "They will appear longer and more spectacular from this perspective." (Check out more astronomy stories.)