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The Leonid meteor bathe is quick and is well-known for its spectacular, vivid fireballs. From time to time the Leonids will produce ‘meteor storms’, the place viewers can see meteors of their 1000’s. Sadly, 2023 isn’t predicted as a meteor storm yr, however the bathe continues to be properly price watching, particularly in the event you’re in an space with little-to-no gentle air pollution.
However how are you going to spot a Leonid? Will you want any tools? And, the place do the Leonids come from within the first place?
If wish to plan forward for upcoming meteor showers within the UK, try our information, and in the event you’re on the lookout for extra stargazing suggestions, be sure you try our astronomy for newbies information and our full Moon UK calendar.
When is the Leonid meteor bathe 2023?
The Leonid meteor bathe peaks on Saturday 18 November 2023, within the early morning simply earlier than dawn. You may nonetheless see meteors from the bathe on the night time of Friday 17 November, and the night time of Saturday 18 November.
“The Leonid meteor bathe is lively between 3 November and a pair of December. Peak charges happen mid-November, this yr’s most predicted for 6am on 18 November,” explains veteran astronomer and BBC Sky at Evening presenter, Pete Lawrence.
“Leonids are amongst the swiftest meteors, the particles forming Leonid trails coming into our ambiance at a pace of 70 km/s (44 miles/s).”
What’s the finest time to see the Leonids?
The most effective time to see the Leonids will probably be between midnight and daybreak on 18 November 2023.
“The night time of 17/18 November ought to give the most effective charges but when the climate is poor, the nights earlier than and after must be high-quality too,” explains Lawrence.
“On the night time of 17 November, the waxing crescent Moon units round 5pm leaving the sky good and darkish for a Leonid watch. The radiant doesn’t rise till 10:30pm, so a watch from 11pm till daybreak on 18 November is really helpful.”
You’ve received the most effective likelihood of recognizing probably the most meteors when the radiant is highest within the sky, which will get larger because the daybreak approaches. Watching when the radiant is excessive, means the meteors are coming into Earth’s ambiance from almost overhead.
This lets you see meteors streaking throughout a bigger portion of the night time sky, making them extra seen and frequent. When the radiant is nearer the horizon, a part of the view is actually ‘lower off’, and lots of meteors might find yourself out of sight.
The place to look to see the Leonids
The Leonids seem to originate from the constellation Leo the Lion, as Lawrence explains: “The bathe is known as as a result of its radiant is inside Leo the Lion throughout peak exercise.”
However the meteors don’t truly come from the radiant, that’s simply the way it seems from our vantage level on Earth.
“A bathe’s radiant is the world of sky which related meteor trails seem to emanate from. For the Leonids, it’s inside a backward query mark sample of stars [within the constellation Leo] known as the Sickle,” Lawrence says.
The simplest technique to discover the Sickle is by first finding the Plough, in Ursa Main. This distinctive asterism can be utilized as a signpost, that will help you find different constellations within the night time sky.
Flip your consideration in direction of the lip of the saucepan (away from the deal with), and find the 2 vivid stars, Dubhe and Merek. These are helpful ‘pointer stars’, and by extending an imaginary line northward between the 2, will level in direction of Polaris, the North Star, and the Sickle in Leo in the event you head the wrong way.
However you don’t have to look solely on the radiant to identify meteors. In reality, typically most meteors gained’t turn out to be seen till they’ve travelled a way away from the radiant. When awaiting meteors, attempt to absorb as a lot of the sky as potential in your area of view, a buffer of round 45 levels across the radiant ought to do the trick.
You may look additional away nonetheless, and this gives you the added bonus of recognizing longer meteor trains. It’s all all the way down to perspective and the angle we’re taking a look at them; like the celebrities that stretch out both aspect of the Enterprise when the galaxy-class starship goes to warp (we’re counting the times till 5 April 2063), or that screensaver from the 90’s.
Nearer the radiant, the meteor paths are shorter; a really quick flash signifies a meteor that’s coming in direction of us.
The place do the Leonids come from?
“Leonid meteors are related to Comet 55P/Temple-Tuttle,” Lawrence says.
Comet 55P/Temple-Tuttle, or Comet Temple-Tuttle for brief, is a periodic comet, comprised primarily of ice and mud. Like Halley’s Comet, which gave us the Orionids in October, Comet Temple-Tuttle is in a retrograde orbit across the Solar. Because of this it’s travelling within the reverse technique to the Earth.
However whereas Halley’s Comet takes 75-76 years to make one orbit, Comet Temple-Tuttle solely takes 33 years to orbit the Solar.
As comet Temple-Tuttle orbits the Solar, it leaves a path of dusty particles in its wake, which regularly will get unfold across the comet’s orbit. When the Earth’s orbit subsequently intersects with this path of particles, these bits of mud collide with our ambiance and disintegrate. The result’s streaks of sunshine that we see as taking pictures stars.
What number of Leonid meteors will we have the ability to see?
On the peak of the Leonid meteor bathe, we will realistically count on to see round 10-15 meteors per hour, maybe much less.
“Earth’s passage via this comet’s orbital particles sometimes brings a peak zenithal hourly price (ZHR) of 15-20 meteors per hour,” Lawrence says.
However there is a catch. “The ZHR determine assumes excellent viewing circumstances with the radiant overhead. As these circumstances are hardly ever ever met, count on the true visible hourly price to be considerably decrease.”
Often, nevertheless, the Leonids produce what’s often known as ‘meteor storms’. In 1966, witnesses skilled 1000’s of meteors per minute throughout a 15-minute interval, it was a spectacular occasion – and top-of-the-line meteor storms in dwelling reminiscence.
Additional again, the 1833 meteor storm was mentioned to be “raining hearth”, and produced as much as 150,000 meteors per hour!
These meteor storms appear to happen in cycles, however the subsequent one isn’t predicted for one more decade:
“The Leonid bathe is legendary due to outburst occasions occurring at roughly 33-year intervals. Throughout such durations peak charges might enhance considerably, generally producing 1000’s of meteors per hour. The subsequent predicted outbursts are for 2033 and 2034 when ZHRs of 400 and 500 respectively, are predicted,” explains Lawrence.
Viewing suggestions: How one can maximise your possibilities of recognizing a fireball
You don’t want any tools to observe a meteor bathe, though a tally counter could be helpful to maintain observe of the meteors you see.
“If the sky is evident on peak night time, a reclining backyard chair makes an ideal viewing platform. Modify it so that you’re trying two-thirds up the sky. Any course works, however the view south is really helpful. Enable a minimum of 20 minutes in whole darkness earlier than beginning a watch, giving time on your eyes to correctly regulate to the darkish,” advises Lawrence.
Attempt not to have a look at different vivid sources of sunshine throughout this time, together with your cellphone. However because the rod cells in our eyes usually are not delicate to pink gentle, in the event you do have to examine one thing it’s advisable to make use of a pink filter or red-light torch.
About our knowledgeable
Pete Lawrence is an skilled astronomer and astrophotographer, and a presenter on BBC’s The Sky at Evening. He beforehand graduated from the College of Leicester with an honours diploma in physics with astrophysics.
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