The 2011 Leonid meteor shower peaks tonight. The Leonids are famous for producing meteor storms! No meteor storm is expected tonight, but you can glimpse the Leonids tonight, even though the moon interferes. Here’s a tip. The radiant point for the annual Leonid meteor shower lies in front of the constellation Leo the Lion. This is the point in the sky from which the meteors appear to radiate in our sky. You don’t have to locate a meteor shower radiant to watch the meteor shower. But if the radiant isn’t in the sky, you won’t see as many meteors. That means you should watch the Leonid shower tonight (November 17), from late evening until dawn on Friday (November 18).
Leonid meteor storm, as seen over North America on the night of November 12-13, 1833. This woodcut was published in 1888 by E. Weib in his Bilderatlas der Sternenwelt (Illustrated Atlas of the Stars). Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
As darkness falls tonight – the expected peak night – the radiant point of the shower will still be below our horizon, as seen from all parts of Earth. As the Earth turns, the constellation Leo and the meteor shower radiant will rise over the eastern horizon. Expect to see the constellation Leo in the east around midnight. The Leonids begin to pick up steam after the midnight hour!
As a general rule, the higher the meteor shower radiant climbs in your sky, the more meteors that you’re likely to see. The radiant for the Leonids is highest up during the dark hour before dawn. If the moon weren’t in the way, you could expect to see 10-15 meteors per hour. The moon will interfere with the show, but it won’t spoil it completely. You should see at least a few meteors, if you watch for an hour or so.
What else can you see on the night of the 2011 Leonids peak? The radiant for the Leonids is near the star Algieba in Leo, by the way. This is not Leo the Lion’s brightest star. That distinction goes to Leo’s star Regulus.
Both Algieba and Regulus belong to a noticeable pattern on the sky’s dome, in the shape of a backwards question mark. This pattern is called “the Sickle,” and it’s shown in the chart at the top of this post. The paths of Leonid meteors can be traced backwards to this sickle pattern.
EarthSky’s meteor shower guide for 2011
Plus you can identify a planet tonight! It’s the glorious planet Mars, now coming back into better view after being inconspicuous in our sky for the past year. Tonight and tomorrow night, as a matter of fact, the moon shines rather close to Mars and to Regulus, Leo’s brightest star. See Mars and Regulus on the chart at the top of this post?
Mars as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope on April 2, 2010. On November 17 and 18, 2011, this planet will appear as a reddish starlike dot near the moon.
Although Leo’s brightest star Regulus and the planet Mars are fairly close together on the sky’s dome, you can easily distinguish one from the other by color. Regulus sparkles blue-white while Mars glowers fiery-red. Use binoculars, if you can’t discern color otherwise.
November 2011 guide to the five visible planets
What are Leonid meteors? Meteors in annual showers originate in comets. The Leonids are tiny bits of debris left behind by Comet Temple-Tuttle. Earth encounters this stream of debris every year at this time. When the icy debris enters our atmosphere, it vaporizes due to friction with the air. We see the vaporizing debris as a bright streak across a clear night sky – a Leonid meteor.
Comet Temple-Tuttle takes 33 years to orbit the sun, and when the comet is nearby we have particularly rich displays of Leonid meteors – the legendary Leonid storms. The Leonid storm of 1833 – estimated to be over 100,000 meteors per hour strong – had a major effect on the development of the scientific study of meteors. Previously, meteors were to be atmospheric phenomena, like weather. The meteor storm of 1833 helped prove that meteors in annual shower originate in comets.
By the way, the Leonids are a fast-moving meteor stream. The meteors impact the Earth at some 45 miles per second (72 km/second)! The Leonid meteor shower is known for having bright meteors or fireballs, which can punch into the atmosphere with the kinetic energy of a car hitting at 60 miles per second (nearly 100 km/hour). If you happen to see a Leonid fireball tonight, it will outshine the moon!
Bottom line: In 2011, the Leonid meteor shower peaks on the night of November 17. You’ll see the moon meteors from late night on the 17th until dawn the following morning. Moonlight interferes, but you still should see some meteors tonight. Even if the moon lessens the impact of the Leonid meteors tonight (and tomorrow night), it’ll help you to locate the planet Mars and the radiant point for the November 2011 Leonid meteor shower!
Does the Leonid meteor shower can be seen in Qatar ? pls answer :)
The Leonid shower can be seen worldwide. Try from midnight till dawn on Friday, November 18. The most meteors will probably fall in the wee hours before dawn.
Thank god :O<3 !!! In what time in Qatar ?
were are you from
Bruce just told you. Did you read it?
And if the Leonid meteor shower couldn’t be seen in Qatar, then what meteor shower could be seen in Qatar?
This meteor shower can be seen in Qatar and worldwide. While a good chance to see something from midnight till dawn (tonight as well), u have a greater chance right before astronomical twilight in the morning, which means the time immediately (say an hour) before (about) an hour and a half before sunrise. So if for example the sun rises at 6:30, then your best chance would be before about 5AM, perhaps from 4AM or so.
Will be watching tonight from the New Forest National Park, UK. This is an amazing place to watch the sky at night. Ive seen numerous shooting stars and im sure a meteor shower? although i only saw 3 fall from half way in the sky all the way down to earth. I find it fascinating and i cant wait.
“As darkness falls tonight – the expected peak night – the radiant point of the shower will still be below our horizon, as seen from all parts of Earth.”
This makes no sense! How can the constellation Leo be below the horizon as seen from all points of the earth?
Pieter
Pieter… you’re an idiot!! do you remember our earth rotates? search planet orbits or something and figure it out.
Pieter, while Leo is in a different point of the sky (in an absolute sense) for all of earth at any 1 moment, its in the same point compared to the division of night and day, which is relevant here. It is approximately at a right angle from the line between sun and earth. If u imagine a spot on the earth (and this applies to all spots except where there is 24-hour sunshine), at the moment when it rotates into dark Leo will be more or less beneath the feet of a person who is standing up. After another 6 hours or so, Leo will be to the side of that person and thus rises. In about another six hours the sun rises, and Leo is high in the sky, close to overhead. Now, at that moment someone on the opposite side of the earth cannot see Leo, since like i said for that person Leo is underneath, but in another six hours…. etc. So for the whole earth visibility is best at the same time of night locally, though the predicted peak favors (favored) one area over others.
Pieter
the constellation Leo is at the same position relative to the sun at all points on earth. When the sun sets, Leo is below the horizon. This would follow as sunsets occur every where from east to west.
Happy viewing!
thanks for the info ! i hope i can see something ! I’m 50 miles east of cincinnati ..
Saw a bright star directly above southern Calif. around 4:30 p.m. any one know what it might of been . It was gone ouy of sight by 5p.m..
Above? At that time, Vega is bright and about overhead, but remains in the sky for many hours. Jupiter is lower but stays out most of the night. Venus is very bright and sets about 45 minutes past sunset, but it is low in the SW not high. Was the “star” u saw moving? If so it would have been something more like a satellite, and would have been out of view in minutes.
Nothing yet in south Tennessee, USA. just came in, beatiful clear sky.Very cold, going back out in a bit.
Time correction 1145 pm.
Anybody see a low flying satelite 3 saturdays ago about 7 pm.eastern? I live in SE Tennessee. I’m talking low enough to see the solar panels and it sounded like a jet.Saw it the following night but several miles to the south.
Omg, I know two people in northern /central who experience a sighting UFO one at midnight about 1 month ago. This guy was a neighbor and his family saaw it as well.
Anything low enough to hear is not a satellite. And no satellite would have visible solar panels without magnification. By definition satellites are above the atmosphere, where there is (nearly) no air to conduct sound waves.
Complete cloud cover here in the South West of England. So wish I had the opportunity to see this.
12:15 cdt 50 miles outside chicago area. Ive seen 1 so far. Came in to warm up! Going back out in a bit. Moon came up within the past hour. Clear skies!
what time can u c it?
Now
Clear sky in Missouri. I’m an idiot like Pieter but find myself sitting in a rock quary until 5am thought this sounded interesting. Hope I see something.
I am in Northern CA and it is about 11pm; the bright body in the upper central sky does not look like Mars. Is it it Jupiter?
Yes, Jupiter is the bright planet/star in the midnight sky because other planets set earlier. Jupiter sets at 5:00am friday morning.
Just saw my first one at 1:09 a.m. CST in 15 miles south of Little Rock, Arkansas. Back inside for a sec to apply the Toastie Toes and make some hot chocolate..lol…31 degrees is gonna get to me sooner than later I’m afraid…hope everyone is enjoying the show =)
Saw one around 2AM CDT in Plano, TX area. Nice night, dragged the old scope out and checked out Mars for a bit. I like Perseuds in summer around 10th of August, especially on a boat on a dark lake.
Good times,
Must sleep.
-Brian
I’m having trouble locating it..im in kentucky and i really would like to see this!! its extremely cold..but i am determined to see something..
2011-11-18 0500 hrs CST … Leonid Meteor Shower.
The sky over Belvidere, IL, was laced with hazy cloud masses. I chose to observe for one hour. The wind at my exposed location seemed to be 10-15 mph, temp 29 F. I faced away from the moon. My best view of the sky, not counting light domes from surrounding suburbs, was the area bounded by the constellations and asterisms of Sirius, Orion, Pleiades, Auriga, Gemmini, and Procyon. I saw three Leonid meteors, 0516 hrs,-1 mag, beginning in lower gemmini, 5 degree non-persistant trail… 0518 hrs, 1 mag, beginning in Auriga, 10 degree non-persistant trail… and the best, by far, 0548 hrs, -4 mag, beginning in mid Gemmini, 35 degree trail that headed off to northwest between Pleiades and Auriga with three seconds of persistence. I saw no other meteors during this hour.
Is there any clever way, to provide an admittedly crude, estimated ZSR for my location?
Several wispy cloud strands swept through this area during the hour I observed this section of the sky, facing away from the moon, for one hour, 0500-0600 CST.
November 18, 2011 at 12:01am, I seen the whole sky out of my bedroom window light up, it was so bright my bedroom lit up also. It only lasted about 2 seconds and then it was pitch dark again. I had no idea what this light was, all I could think of was a UFO. All day this bright light I had seen out my bedroom window was bugging me because I did not know what it was and nobody else seen it and said I was crazy! Luckily I came across this website as I have been searching all day to find out what it was that I seen.