Leonid meteor showers to peak on Saturday midnight.
A full moon night is loved by most of the sky watchers but it may disappoint many of the spectators eagerly waiting for the Leonid meteor showers this weekend. The meteor shower will peak late night and early hours of Nov. 17, 10:00 UT/5:00 AM EST, but the show, which is expected to be tame, will be overshadowed by the bright light of the moon too. North America will be the best place to view this.
The second peak of meteor showers will hit the earth six hours later at 16:00 UT/11:00 AM EST, a favorable time for viewers in the Central Pacific region.
The Leonid meteors are a result of the sweeping effects of Comet-TempleTuttle that completes a circle around the solar system once in 33 years. The Leonids are the most famous of all annual meteor showers but they will be weak this time, reports Yahoo News.
The meteor is named after its constellation, Leo or Lion. The Leonid meteor showers that have occurred earlier in 1883 and 1966 had a meteor rate more than 10,000 meteors in an hour. In 1991, the meteor frequency was rated at a few thousands in an hour. But this year as predicted, hardly 10-20 meteors will be visible in an hour.
The Leonid moves in the direction opposite to that of earth, some of the meteors hit the atmosphere hard resulting in greater velocity. The approximate speed is estimated to be nearly 45 miles per second, this results in brighter and lengthier meteor showers resembling fireballs, reports Yahoo News . But this time such speedy showers are expected to be few and far between, although these high-speed ones will be visible in the bright moonlight.
The next Leonid meteor showers will be visible in 2031.
Important tricks to have a better view of the Meteors this weekend:
- Start watching the morning sky to get your eyes familiar with the light effect in the early half of the day, recommendsUniverse Today. If not, get out 30 minutes before the event to get your eyes accustomed to the sky, says NASA.
- The best time to watch the meteor showers will be midnight. The best place to watch the meteors will be the countryside.
- Switch off all the artificial/ electric lights around before the meteor shower starts.
- For those who can't step outside to witness the show they can watch the events on a live stream by NASA.
