The Leonids Meteor Shower is set to peak on Wednesday night and through to Thursday dawn, with up to 15 shooting stars every hour, experts say.
After bursting off of a comet named Tempel Tuttle, small rocks drop towards Earth in an annual spectacle that takes place every November.
NASA says that the Leonids meteors travel at speeds up to 44 miles (71 km per second) and are among the fastest in history.
If you trace the path that the Leonids take, they seem to originate from a point in the constellation of Leo – hence the event’s name.
The peak week-end is November 17-18, (Wednesday night through Thursday dawn), but viewing conditions can be cloudy in certain parts of the UK. MailOnline has been informed by the Met Office.
Named after Leo the Lion’s radiant, which is the point from where meteors appear to flow from, it can be found at the head of the constellation Leo the Lion.
NASA states that Leonids can travel 44 miles (71 km/s) per second and they are among the most powerful meteors. Photographed: The Leonids Meteor Shower above New Mexico in 1998
For the best views of Next Week’s Peak, choose a location with clear skies. Avoid light pollution such as big cities.
There is no advantage to using binoculars or a telescope – observers just need to look up unaided and take in the widest possible view of the sky, as long as it’s not obscured by cloud.
The Met Office says that the UK’s north may experience a mix of rain and cloud during Wednesday’s early hours.
MailOnline was informed by Greg Dewhurst (senior meteorologist at Met Office), that the south would be dry but could also experience some cloudiness and fog. As we near the time, details will become more clear.
Meteors, also known as shooting stars, come from leftover comet particles and bits from broken asteroids.
The dust that comets emit when they orbit the sun slowly spreads to form a trail of dust around their orbits.
These debris trails are traversed every year by the Earth, allowing them to come into contact with the atmosphere and disintegrate. This creates fiery streaks of color in the sky.
Comet Tempel Tuttle is the source of the space debris pieces that react with the atmosphere and create the Leonids. It takes 33 years for the comet to orbit the Sun one time.
The Leonids, 1998. With fast-moving meteors that are associated with Tempel–Tuttle, the Leonids are one of the most prolific meteor showers each year.
Tempel-Tuttle is a small comet – its nucleus measures only about 2.24 miles (3.6 km) across, comparable in size to the island of Manhattan.
Its debris fragments burn up and vaporise before they hit the Earth’s surface – causing a streak of hot air which we see as a shooting star.
You can see beautiful stars in the night sky due to cosmic particles that are as tiny as one grain of sand.
Radiant (the place where meteors appear to stream from), is located at the head of Leo the Lion. This shower’s name comes from it.
MailOnline has learned that the Leonids meteor Shower is named after Leo the Lion’s constellation. Anna Gammon Ross (astronomer at Royal Observatory Greenwich) told MailOnline.
“This is because although meteors are all around the sky, all of them appear to emanate or appear from a single constellation.
The shower will continue at a lower rate for several days if the peak time is missed. There should still be ample opportunities to view the show.
Gammon Ross said that the radiant (the best region for them to be seen) would rise Wednesday night just after 10pm in the UK.
“So when Leo is up high, it’s best to be on the lookout for this shower in the early morning.”
Earth’s viewers might experience a Leonid storm every 33 years. This can be accompanied by hundreds or thousands of meteors each hour. It all depends on where the viewer is located.
NASA says: ‘Viewers in 1966 experienced a spectacular Leonid storm – thousands of meteors per minute fell through Earth’s atmosphere during a 15 minute period.
“There were many meteors that appeared as if they had fallen like rain. The 2002 Leonid meteorstorm was the last.
After the Leonids, there will be another two meteor showers in 2021 – the Geminids, which will peak December 14-15, and the Ursids, which peak December 21-22.