\n Sky-gazers worldwide may get the chance to see a celestial display this week as the annual Leonid meteor shower reaches its peak.\n <\/p>\n
\n The Leonids are set to peak at 1 p.m. ET Monday, according to EarthSky<\/a>. You may start glimpsing meteors at 11 p.m. Sunday local time, which is when the constellation Leo rises over the horizon. But it\u2019s best to watch for them between 4 a.m. Monday and sunrise local time, said Robert Lunsford, fireball report coordinator for the American Meteor Society.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cUnlike a lot of (meteor) showers, the Leonids have a very sharp peak,\u201d Lunsford said, adding there is only one good night for viewing.\n <\/p>\n \n The Leonids\u2019 parent comet, 55P\/Tempel-Tuttle<\/a>, is to thank for this brief duration. The size of the comet\u2019s debris trail is small, so Earth passes through it for a short amount of time.\n <\/p>\n \n The meteors you\u2019ll see around 11 p.m. Sunday will be Earth grazers, Lunsford said, which means they\u2019ll last longer than normal and will shoot across a large portion of the sky. \u201cBut you won\u2019t see as many because a lot of the Leonid activity will be shooting downward below the horizon,\u201d he added.\n <\/p>\n \n Under clear weather conditions, you can expect to see 10 to 15 meteors per hour.\n <\/p>\n Showers and storms<\/p>\n \n While a meteor shower is expected this year, the Leonids are known for occasionally producing tremendous meteor storms, with at least 1,000 meteors per hour.\n <\/p>\n \n The last Leonid meteor storm<\/a> was in 2002. However, one of the most memorable storms occurred in 1966 when \u201cwe passed right through the center of one of the Leonid streams and rates were estimated at 40 meteors per second,\u201d Lunsford said.\n <\/p>\n \n That storm had meteor activity so prevalent in the sky that meteors appeared to fall like rain.\n <\/p>\n \n High meteor activity coincides with when the comet 55P\/Tempel-Tuttle reaches perihelion \u2014 its closest approach in orbit to the sun. It takes the comet 33 years to orbit the sun, so the larger Leonid meteor showers \u2014 and sometimes storms \u2014 tend to occur about every 33 years.\n <\/p>\n \n For a storm to happen, Earth has to pass through a dense part of the comet\u2019s debris during perihelion, but sometimes our planet only skims the outskirts.\n <\/p>\n \n The next shower that will coincide with the comet\u2019s orbital cycle will take place in 2033, but it is not expected to be a storm, Lunsford said. \u201cWe may see rates of around 100 an hour, which is comparable to the Geminids,\u201d he said, \u201cbut we certainly don\u2019t expect any storms which are 1,000 meters an hour.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Here are the peak dates of the two remaining meteor showers anticipated this year, according to the American Meteor Society<\/a> and EarthSky.<\/a>\n <\/p>\n Geminids: December 13-14<\/p>\n Ursids: December 21-22<\/p>\n \n Look out for the last full supermoon<\/a> this year.\n <\/p>\n