The Leonid Meteor Shower Peaks Tonight Heres Where To Look For Shooting Stars

Heads up stargazers! The Leonid meteor shower peaks tonight, bringing a flurry of shooting stars to the night sky as Earth passes through the trail of debris shed by comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle.

TheLeonid meteor showeris active from Nov. 3 to Dec 2 and peaks overnight on Nov. 16-17, when up to 10meteorsper hour may be visible radiating from a patch of sky in the constellation Leo, according to theAmerican Meteor Society.

Meteors, or “shooting stars” occur when fragments of ancientcometsslam intoEarth‘s atmosphere at tens of thousands of miles per hour, burning up in a brilliant fiery display. Larger pieces can give rise to brilliant fireballs, which can outshine even thebrightest planetsin the night sky.

What time should I look for the Leonids?

The best time to look for Leonids is late at night on Nov. 16 through to the hours preceding dawn on Nov. 17, when the constellation Leo will be positioned high above the eastern horizon, withJupitershining brightly to its upper right. Look for a patch of sky roughly 40 degrees above the radiant in Leo, that’s roughly the width of four clenched fists held at arm’s length, where the meteor trails will be at their longest.

“On the morning of November 17th I would expect observers of the Leonid shower to see 5-10 meteors per hour,” Robert Lunsford of the American Meteor Society told Space.com in an email. “It falls off rapidly, (so) I would expect rates of only 5 (shooting stars) per hour on the following morning and another 50 percent drop off on each of the following mornings.”

Be sure to wear warm clothing to combat the cold and allow at least 30 minutes for your eyes to adjust fully to the dark, to give yourself the best chance of spotting fainter members of the annual shower. Try to use a red light if you need to look around, as this will help keep your night vision intact over a standard flashlight!

The Leonid meteor shower is known for producing spectacularmeteor stormson occasion, when hundreds, or even thousands of meteors can be seen brightening the night sky each hour. Sadly, Earth isn’t due to pass through a particularly dense cloud of cometary debris from 55P/Tempel-Tuttle until the year 2099.

Want to photograph a shooting star? Then be sure to check out ourguide to imaging meteor showersalong with our roundups of thebest camerasandlenses available for astrophotographyin 2025.

Editor’s Note:If you would like to share your meteor images with Space.com’s readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, name and location to [email protected].