Up to 15 shooting stars per hour: the Leonids meteor shower will soon be visible over the United States

According to experts, the peak of the Leonids meteor shower will occur on Wednesday night, November 17, and until dawn on Thursday, November 18, while about 15 shooting stars can be seen every hour. How can you observe this incredible sight, said the publication Daily Mail.

Photo: Shutterstock

The motor flow of Leonids takes place in November every year. It is created when small rocks fall to Earth after being lifted off from Comet Tempel-Tuttle.

According to NASA, the Leonids are considered one of the fastest meteors in existence. They travel at 44 miles (71 km) per second.

If you trace the path along which the Leonids go, it seems that they come from a point in the constellation Leo.

For the best view of the peak of the stream, find a location with clear skies and away from large light sources such as cities.

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There is no advantage to using binoculars or a telescope—observers simply need to look up without assistance. It is worth choosing a point where the sky is most visible.

And immediately after the peak of the meteor shower, on November 19, it will be possible observe the longest lunar eclipse in the last 100 years.

Meteors, known as shooting stars, are formed from the remnants of cometary particles and pieces of shattered asteroids.

When comets orbiting the Sun emit dust, it gradually spreads along their orbits, forming a dusty trail. Each year, the Earth passes through debris trails and a dusty trail, allowing parts of them to collide with our atmosphere, where they disintegrate and form fiery colorful streaks in the sky.

The pieces of space debris that interact with our atmosphere to create Leonids come from Comet Tempel-Tuttle, which takes 33 years to circle the Sun once.

It is a small comet, its core is only about 3,6 km in size, which is comparable to the size of Manhattan Island.

Shards of its debris burn and vaporize before hitting the Earth's surface, causing a streak of hot air that we see as a shooting star.

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The beautiful streaks seen in the night sky may actually be caused by cosmic particles the size of a grain of sand.

The radiant (the point from which meteors appear to emanate) is located at the head or "crescent" of the constellation Leo - hence the shower's name.

“The Leonid meteor shower is named after the constellation Leo,” said Anna Gammon-Ross, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich. “This is because although meteors appear all over the sky, they all seem to appear from one point, which is located within this constellation.”

If you miss the peak period, the flow will continue at a reduced rate for several days, so you have a lot of chances to see the sight.

Approximately every 33 years, earthlings can see the "storm" of the Leonids, the peak of which can reach hundreds and thousands of meteors per hour, depending on the location of the observer.

NASA says: “In 1966, viewers experienced the spectacular Leonid storm—thousands of meteors per minute crashed through Earth's atmosphere for 15 minutes. So many meteors were visible that they seemed to fall like rain. The last Leonid meteor storm occurred in 2002.”

After the Leonids, two more meteor showers are expected in 2021 - the Geminids, which will peak on December 14-15, and the Ursids, which will peak on December 21-22.

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