Leonid meteor shower 2020

BEST TIME TO SEE: In the morning, 17 and 18 November

The annual Leonid meteor shower reaches its peak activity at 11:00 UT on 17 November with a ZHR (zenithal hourly rate) estimated to be somewhere in the range of 10–20 meteors per hour. This peak time is obviously in daylight, but there are also some interesting predictions for dust trail crossings at periods that will be in darkness for UK viewing.

Generally, the Leonids are best observed after midnight and technically they should be putting on their best show during the morning of 17 November from 00:00 UT until the onset of dawn, around 05:40 UT. A watch on the morning of 18 November should still produce results, but is further from the predicted ZHR peak of 11:00 UT than the morning session on the 17th. An added bonus is that this year’s new Moon is out of the way for the peak period.

Although there’s a prediction of enhanced activity from 06:50 UT until 08:13 UT on the morning of 17 November, it’s expected that this will consist mostly of faint meteor trails. It’s also when the sky will be bright with morning twilight from the UK. A second period of enhancement may occur during darkness in the early morning of 18 November at 00:58 UT. However, it’s not expected that these predictions are going to produce significant rate increases as the trails which are responsible for them will have spread over time and will have become sparse.

Leonid meteors can typically be seen between 10–20 November; they are fast meteors, associated with the debris stream of comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. The radiant is located within the curved portion of the Sickle asterism in Leo, the pattern that is meant to represent the Lion’s head.