Earth set for annual Leonid shower - 17th November

This week sees the annual lightshow that is the Leonid meteors, as debris from comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle comes to a fiery end in Earth's atmosphere.

According to New Scientist, the entertainment is due to kick off around 09:00 GMT tomorrow (17 November), with the peak occurring between 21:00 and 22:00 GMT as we pass through "two debris trails left by Tempel-Tuttle in 1466 and 1533".

The prediction is that "skywatchers in Asia and the easternmost parts of Europe will have the best view of these intense showers, because the sky will be dark and the apparent point of origin of the meteors... will be over the horizon".

The best time for US spotters to catch the Leonids - so named because they appear to radiate from the constellation Leo - is before dawn tomorrow. Those of us in western Europe should look skywards in the wee hours of 18 November for a chance to catch the post-peak burn-ups

Earth set for annual Leonid shower ? The Register

Would have been a good one as no moon to spoil the show. Shame about the appauling weather.

I think I might have to give it a miss

"The best time to observe in Australia is the morning of the 18th between 3 and 4 am (daylight saving time). Sadly, a number of peaks occur just before Leo rises, and the best (the one the 200+ prediction is for, occurs after sunrise. Nonetheless, the possibility of seeing a quite reasonable number of meterors is good, and the meteor preak may come early. There is alos a small peak around 2 am on the morning of the 19th that may be worth watching for, despite leo being low on the horizon."

Queensland doesn't have daylight saving so those times translate to 2 am to 3 am and 1am the next day! :unsure:

Oh well next time!

Thats proper astronomy time :D

:sigh: according to the BBC this was last night which is a shame as me and the boy could have sat out tonight and had a look.

The best way to do this is sit outside ina deckchair which a blanket over you and propa pillow under your head so you are comfortable looking up

it can take several long minutes before you see anything so you have to be patient

popping your head outside from a well lit kitchen and looking up for a few seconds will rarely produce good results

it is fair to say that on every single night I have been out stargazing for any length of time I have always seen several 'shooting stars' some of them have been really quite extroadinary and have caused me toi utter expletives into the night air

did you see on the news about that dark park in Scotland? might have a look into that next time we go up