| Heads up! Leonids meteor shower tonight! Nov 17th 2012, 02:00 A depiction of Leonid meteors in 1833, when there was a spectacular meteor storm. The Leonids meteor shower is an annual astronomical event when our planet enters a meteor field created from debris left behind the comet Tempel-Tuttle. In 2012, the predicted maximum is on November 17 at 9:30am UT (1:30am PST, 4:30am EST). [1] - Get a comfortable blanket or something else you can lie on for a few hours at a time. Bring a telescope or a pair of binoculars for better viewing of the meteors as they enter the atmosphere and come down towards the surface of the Earth.
- Find a good spot. If you live in a city or urban area, try to find a place away from bright lights, so they don't shine out the meteor shower.
- Go to that spot between midnight and dawn.[2]
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Find the constellation Leo, and locate the radiant, or originating point, of the meteor shower. - If you have trouble finding Leo, look for the Big Dipper. Leo is below the bottom of the dipper.
- Once your eyes have adapted to the dark, locate every star of the Little Dipper. This helps decide if the spot you are at is dark enough to see the meteors.
- The next morning, if any meteors seemed to land nearby, you may want to look for fallen meteorites in the area and possibly start a collection. [Note: This is unlikely to be fruitful for the Leonid shower. The vast majority of meteors seen during a meteor shower are VERY small and burn up entirely in the far upper atmosphere. And any longer-lived meteors that appear to possibly reach the Earth's surface will likely do so tens or even hundreds of miles from where you happen to be.]
Edit Warnings - Times are estimated, and not totally reliable.
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