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A Leonid meteor seen streaking through the sky over Washington County northwest of Houston early Sunday morning, Nov. 18, 2001. (Getty Images)
The Leonid meteor shower will peak again tonight and stargazers will have a great opportunity to see the celestial show thanks to clearer skies.
Timeline:
The Moon will be at a warning crescent tonight, which means it’s only 9% full, giving observers a perfect view of the show.
The best viewing times, according to NASA, are between midnight and sunrise, when the Leonids will be at their peak with thousands of meteors per hour depending on the location of the observer. At non-peak times, viewers may be able to see 10 to 20 meteors per hour.
What you can do:
To best view the Leonid meteor shower, NASA says to find an area that is far away from a city or streetlights. Orient yourself to the east, lie flat on your back and look up, taking in as much of the sky as possible. In less than 30 minutes in the dark, your eyes will adapt, and you will begin to see the meteors.
Dig deeper:
According to NASA, the Leonids travel at a speed of 44 miles per second and last occurred in 2002. They are considered to be some of the fastest meteors.
NASA says the pieces of space debris that interact with our atmosphere to create the Leonids originate from comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. It takes 33 years for Tempel-Tuttle to orbit the sun once.
The American Meteor Society says Earth will not encounter any dense clouds of debris until 2099, meaning that there may not be a Leonid meteor storm when the comet returns in 2031 or 2064.
The Source: Information in this article comes from NASA, The American Meteor Society, and FOX Weather. This story was reported from Orlando.