.png){kind=logo}
Leonid Meteor Shower
What are the Leonids?
Every year, between the end of September and the end of November, our planet Earth intercepts the orbit of Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. This region is populated by various debris from the comet that are intercepted by the Earth. When they enter our atmosphere, they heat up and become incandescent due to air resistance.
The name Leonids derives from the fact that various events in the sky appear to radiate from the constellation Taurus.
The Leonids in 2024
The Leonids are visible throughout the month of November, peaking on the night of the 17th to the 18th. The radiant in the constellation Leo makes observing many events complicated, as the radiant only transits the meridian near sunrise.
The ZHR value corresponds to “Zenith Hourly Rate” which estimates the number of events that an observer can observe per hour in a dark, moonless sky with the radiant at the zenith.
What is comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle?
Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle was discovered independently by Ernst Tempel in 1865 and Horace Tuttle in 1866.
It is a small comet, when compared to other comets, with an approximate radius of 3.6 km.
False color image taken at Lowell Observatory on February 19, 1998, by the 42" Hall telescope. The comet's tail can be seen in the image. Reference: Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle (umd.edu)
Orbital elements
Reference: Base de dados da NASA-JPL (JPL Solar System Dynamics (nasa.gov)), updated on 03/01/2002.
Although the comet will only pass close to Earth in 2163, its orbital period of around 33 years predicts a new passage at perihelion in 2031.
The debris
As 55P/Tempel-Tuttle approaches the Sun, its temperature increases and the comet begins to lose mass through the ejection of gas, dust and small debris. Some of these meteoroids remain in the comet's orbit and have trajectories that intersect Earth's atmosphere.
Reference: Global Meteor Network . 2023 Leonid data released on 29 November 2023.
The Leonid ZHR shows a gradual increase up to peak intensity but a more pronounced decrease after the peak.
Occasionally, the Leonid meteor shower turns into a meteor storm. Observers in 1966 saw thousands of events per minute over a 15-minute period. The last Leonid meteor storm occurred in 2002. Meteor storms are difficult to predict due to the orbital nature of the debris and the denser regions of the comet's orbit, so the next Leonid storm is not expected until 2094, according to a paper “Leonids” published by Mikhail Maslov in the Journal of the International Meteor Organization, WGN.
How and when to observe the Leonids at OLA in 2024?
The Leonids occur simultaneously with other meteor showers, namely the Taurids, whose peak intensity will be on the night of November 4th to 5th.
The Taurids are most notable for the “fireballs” or bolides they produce. Given the presence of the Moon in the sky (full Moon on November 16) during the period of greatest intensity and since the Leonids are not very bright, the best observation period will be in the weeks before the peak.
-
We recommend the week of November 4th to 10th .
-
The second session of the night will always be the best.
The radiant in the constellation Leo will reach its highest point around 6 am, very close to sunrise.