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Reports suggest that this year, the Leonid meteor shower will be best viewed between November 17 night and November 18 dawn in India.
C B Devgun from a Delhi-based NGO, SPACE, said, “A shower of shooting stars is something that happens only a few times. Leonid is one of these and the most prominent one. As a result, the rest of the stars appear as circular arcs.”
“Leonids are a prolific meteor shower associated with comet Tempel-Tuttle. The shower is visible every year around November 17 when the Earth moves through the Leonid meteor stream that comprises solid particles known as meteoroids, ejected by the comet as it passes by the Sun. Though the entire meteor streaks are parallel, they appear to originate from a single point in the sky and as a result Leonids get their name from the location of their radiant in the constellation Leo.”
This year, the shower can be best viewed on the night of November 17 and the morning of November 18 around 3 am IST. Indian observers may be able to witness 100-200 meteors an hour during peak time between 3 and 4 am. The absence of moon and presence of Mars near the radiant will make the experience more stunning as some of the showers would appear to be originating from Mars.
“A meteor is commonly called a shooting star. These can be seen on any night, but when the number is large, it is called a meteor shower. It lasts for just fraction of a second before they are gone,” Devgun said.
He added, “The simplest thing to do is just count the number of ‘shower’ and ‘non-shower’ meteors that you see. Shower meteors will seem to come from the Leo constellation. Trace the path of a meteor backwards across the sky. If the line comes near the radiant, then you have observed a shower meteor. If the line goes elsewhere, then you have observed a non-shower meteor. Keep your field of vision filled with sky.”
