In 1966, witnesses to the Leonid meteor storm – like a meteor shower but much, much more intense – said that the swarm of shooting stars looked like rain. For about fifteen minutes, they lit up the sky like fireworks in an incredible display.
This isn’t a meteor storm year. Those only happen for the Leonid cluster about once every 33 to 35 years. But the annual Leonid meteor shower can still be counted on for a good show. It happens every mid-November, when the Earth moves through the trail of dust left behind by the comet Tempel-Tuttle and the fragments ignite from friction with our atmosphere.
In a normal year like this one, an observant sky-gazer can expect to see about 15 meteors an hour at the height of the show, which will be between 3 and 4 a.m. local time on November 17. It’s visible from all over the world, too.
But a little bit of travel will still help you to have the best meteor experience you could have. Contrary to what TV shows you, shooting stars are rarely bright. Light pollution doesn’t have to be the Las Vegas Strip to entirely obscure them. Even small-town streetlights will make them difficult to pick out, even if the lights are out of your direct line of sight.
For the best chance to see the Leonid meteor shower, get out of town. Get out into a wilderness area, get a good-sized hill between you and the nearest bright town, and then turn off your headlights and your phone and look up. It takes about twenty minutes for your eyes to strongly adjust to the dark, so give yourself a little time. Then you’ll be able to see them everywhere, but the constellation Leo—for which the Leonid meteor shower is named—is a good place to start seeking.
For the very best view, find the closest Dark Sky Site. These are places where light is intentionally limited both to provide a clear sky and to reduce the environmental pressure of constant light.
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