Astronomy

Astronomy Picture of the Week – Leonid Meteor Shower

Today is the peak of the Leonid meteor shower. It is one of the best meteor showers to watch because it produces an average of 40 meteors per hour during the peak. All meteors seem to come from the Leo constellation, hence it’s name.

This picture features a few meteors from the 2001 Leonid meteor shower streaking over Joshua Tree National Park in California, USA.

Leonids meteor showerImage credit & copyright: Wally Pacholka (Astropics) & Tony Hallas (Astrophoto)

Unfortunately for me the weather is really bad where I live: it is really cloudy with intermittent rain. So I hope some of you had better luck!

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Paul Tomaszewski is a science & tech writer as well as a programmer and entrepreneur. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of CosmoBC. He has a degree in computer science from John Abbott College, a bachelor's degree in technology from the Memorial University of Newfoundland, and completed some business and economics classes at Concordia University in Montreal. While in college he was the vice-president of the Astronomy Club. In his spare time he is an amateur astronomer and enjoys reading or watching science-fiction. You can follow him on LinkedIn and Twitter.

5 Comments

  • Paul Tomaszewski

    I go to the University of Connecticut and want to watch the leonid meteor shower. Where would be the best place to view it?

    The Leonid meteor shower peaks in mid-November each year. Visually the meteors appear to radiate from the Leo constellation, therefore they are visible anywhere that constellation can be seen, so pretty much all of the northern hemisphere.

  • Chester Field

    I go to the University of Connecticut and want to watch the leonid meteor shower. Where would be the best place to view it?

  • Chester field

    when is the meteor shower and at what time should i be looking outside. I know you gotta look to the east. is it sat and sun or just sun?

  • Paul Tomaszewski

    Bonjour,
    Le vendredi 19 novembre vers 22 h, en sortant mon chien dans mon jardin, j’ai tout à coup vu une traînée lumineuse descendre du ciel en diagonale au dessus des arbres et terminer sa course quelque part à terre dans un jardin ou dans la forêt toute proche. Cela n’a duré que quelques secondes, mais c’est quelque chose que je n’oublierai jamais.
    Overijse, sortie Bruxelles, Belgique

    Merci pour le commentaire! 🙂
    (Thanks for the comment even though this is an English blog)

  • Lannoy

    Bonjour,
    Le vendredi 19 novembre vers 22 h, en sortant mon chien dans mon jardin, j’ai tout à coup vu une traînée lumineuse descendre du ciel en diagonale au dessus des arbres et terminer sa course quelque part à terre dans un jardin ou dans la forêt toute proche. Cela n’a duré que quelques secondes, mais c’est quelque chose que je n’oublierai jamais.
    Overijse, sortie Bruxelles, Belgique

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