Mid-November meteors … the Leonids
Predicted peak: The peak is predicted** for 0 UTC on November 18, 2026.
When to watch: The midnight to dawn hours — on the mornings of November 17 and November 18 — are likely best.
Radiant: Rises around midnight, highest in the sky at dawn. You’ll see more meteors after the radiant has come over the eastern horizon. Do you need to look at the radiant to see the meteors? No. The meteors will fly from that single point in the sky, but they’ll appear all over the sky.
Nearest moon phase: In 2026, the 1st quarter moon falls at 11:48 UTC on November 17. A 1st quarter moon sets around midnight. So the moon won’t interfere with the Leonids in 2026.
Expected meteors at peak, under ideal conditions: Under a dark sky with no moon, you might see 10 to 15 Leonid meteors per hour.
Earth is passing through the Leonid meteor stream in space from November 3 through December 2. You might see a Leonid meteor at any time during that period, especially if you’re out under a dark sky.
The Leonid meteor shower is famous! But why, when the hourly rate is so low, just 10-15 meteors per hour? The Leonids’ fame stems from its periodic meteor storms. The Leonids produced the first major meteor storm of modern times on November 12-13, 1833. It’s often called The Night the Stars Fell. We can’t know the meteor rates exactly. But a widely accepted estimate suggests a rate of up to 2,500 meteors per minute (approximately 150,000 meteors per hour), with some observers reporting seeing up to 20 to 70 meteors per second at the storm’s absolute climax.
Leonids also produced one of the greatest storms in living memory — with rates as high as in the 1833 storm for a period of about 15-20 minutes — on the morning of November 17, 1966. Some who witnessed it reported having a strong impression of Earth moving through space, as our world forded the meteor stream. “I almost felt as if I needed to grip the ground,” one observer told EarthSky.
Leonid meteor storms sometimes recur in cycles of 33 to 34 years. But the Leonids around the turn of the century – while wonderful for many observers – did not match the shower of 1966.
Alas! In most years, the Lion whimpers rather than roars. And scientists don’t expect a Leonid meteor storm this year.
Still, the shower should be fun to watch! Find a dark place to watch at EarthSky’s Best Places to Stargaze page.
Report a fireball (very bright meteor) to the American Meteor Society: it’s fun and easy
Read more: Veteran meteor photographer Eliot Herman’s website: Meteor Photography
See the Leonid meteor shower stream of debris in space
The parent comet of the Leonid meteor shower
From the late, great Don Machholz (1952-2022), who discovered 12 comets …
Periodic Comet Tempel-Tuttle, officially known as 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, is responsible for the Leonid meteor shower. William Tempel of Marseille Observatory in France discovered this comet on the evening of December 19, 1865. He found the comet in the northern sky, located in a part of the sky under the North Star near the star Beta Ursae Minoris.
Word of the comet discovery became known throughout Europe. But the news had not yet spread to the United States. Horace Tuttle of Harvard College Observatory picked up the comet 17 days later, on the evening of January 5, 1866. Because this was an independent discovery, Tuttle’s name was added to the comet. Based upon the measurements during this visit of the comet, scientists calculated an orbit of 33.17 years. Astronomers quickly realized that the meteor storm of 1833 — and the annual meteor showers that occurred in mid-November of each year — were the result of this comet.
One would think there’d have been interest in recovering this comet as it came back to Earth’s vicinity in 1899. But there wasn’t much interest in seeing the comet that year. Everyone wanted to see a meteor storm. So, observers missed the comet in 1899. Also missing was a great meteor storm that year.
Scientists expected the next return in 1932. The observatories, using photographic plates with narrow field-of-view telescopes, missed it then too. And again, a major meteor shower did not materialize.
The comet was finally recovered in 1965. The brightest the comet got that year was 16th magnitude, visible only in very large telescopes. But the spectacular meteor storm of 1966 followed!
On the next return, in early 1998, the comet was bright enough that you could see it in binoculars. This pass produced additional impressive meteor showers, which stretched across several years in 1999-2001. Read more about them below.
55P/Tempel-Tuttle is due back in early 2031.
The radiant of the Leonid meteor shower
Leonid meteor storms in recent history
Most astronomers say you need more than 1,000 meteors an hour to consider a shower a storm. That’s far from the 10 to 15 meteors per hour the Leonids deliver in average years.
The Leonid’s parent comet, Tempel-Tuttle, completes a single orbit around the sun about once every 33 years. It releases fresh material every time it approaches the sun. Since the 19th century, skywatchers have looked for Leonid meteor storms about every 33 years, beginning with the meteor storm of 1833, which witnesses said produced up to 150,000 meteors per hour.
The next great Leonid storms were about 33 years later, in 1866 and 1867. In 1899, a meteor storm did not materialize. In fact, the anticipation of a great meteor storm was so high — and the results so disappointing — that many astronomers felt it was the worst blow ever suffered by astronomy in the eyes of the public.
Not until 1966 did the next spectacular Leonid storm happen, this time over the Americas. In 1966, observers in the southwest United States reported seeing up to 70 meteors per second during a span of 15-20 minutes on the morning of November 17, 1966.
Then came the 1999-2001 showers.
- 1999: Observed rates peaked on November 18 at approximately 3,700 to 4,000 meteors per hour The peak lasted for a short window and was best seen from Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.
- 2000: Rates dropped considerably in contrast to 1999, but Earth still encountered multiple dust trails. Rates peaked at approximately 130 to 480 meteors per hour, hampered somewhat by bright moonlight.
- 2001: The Leonids returned with a major double peak on November 18–19.
- First Peak: Produced 1,500 to 2,000 meteors per hour, best seen from North America and Hawaii.
- Second Peak: Reached 3,000 to 3,700+ meteors per hour, matching or slightly exceeding the peak intensity of the 1999 storm. Best seen from East Asia and Australia.
Leonid meteors from the EarthSky Community
More Leonid meteor shower photos from the EarthSky Community
Bottom line: In 2026, watch for Leonids after midnight on both November 17 and November 18. The radiant point rises around midnight and is highest in the sky at dawn. The 1st quarter moon sets at midnight and won’t interfere with the Leonids in 2026.
**Predicted peak times and dates for meteor showers are from the American Meteor Society. Note that meteor shower peak times can vary.
EarthSky’s meteor shower guide for 2026
EarthSky’s night sky guide: Visible planets and more
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