The annual Leonid meteor shower peaks late Friday night.
According to NASA, the program Leonids are debris thrown by Comet Tempel-Tuttle Because it passes near the sun.
As bits of comet debris enter Earth’s atmosphere and burn up, they leave bright streaks across the night sky.
Observers can look directly over the shower, with bright meteors leaving a trail that lasts a few seconds.
The 1999 Leonid meteor explosion as seen at 38,000 feet from Leonid’s Multi-Aircraft Instrument (Leonid Mac) campaign with a 50mm camera.
(Image credit: NASA/Ames Research Center/ISAS/Shinsuke Abe and Hajime Yano)
However, the Moon is about 35% full and will have fewer faint meteors.
There will be about 15 to 20 meteors per hour under clear, dark skies.
At 1:45 a.m. GMT on Nov. 17, NASA’s All Sky Camera at New Mexico State University captured this image of the Leonid meteors streaking across the sky.
(NASA)
NASA’s Telescope displays a stunning sundial image surrounding star formation
The shower’s name comes from the constellation of Leo, the Leo, from which its meteors seem to radiate.
More than 100 meteors are recorded in this composite image taken during the peak of the Geminid meteor shower in 2014.
(Credit: NASA/MSFC/Daniel Moser, NASA’s Meteorite Environment Office)
While The moon will rise in the east With Leo at midnight local time, the sky is best viewed further from the apparent point of origin by lying down and looking straight up.
Comet Tempel-Tuttle has been discovered twice independently.
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In December, sky watchers can Sign Gemini and Ursids.
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