Don't Miss November's Leonid Meteor Shower—a Celestial Spectacle That Once Produced 100,000 Shooting Stars

If you've enjoyed watching the northern lights or gazing at the Hunter Supermoon this October, you're in for more treats in November. Yet another celestial event will be gracing the sky very soon—the Leonid meteor shower will be active from November 3 to December 2, peaking on the night of November 16 until dawn on November 17.

The Leonids occur when debris released from Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle reaches Earth's atmosphere. Although it takes the comet 33 years to complete a single orbit, the Leonid meteor shower occurs annually in mid-November, according to NASA.

55P/Tempel-Tuttle, discovered by Ernst Tempel and Horace Tuttle in 1865, is a small comet with a nucleus measuring just 2.24 miles across. The "P" in its name indicates that the comet has an orbital period of less than 200 years, making it a periodic comet, per Space.com.

The annual shower gets its name from the constellation Leo the Lion because the meteors outwardly radiate from the location of the stars, representing a lion's mane. This projection means that the stars will appear in all parts of the sky, so there's no specific direction you need to look at when observing the meteor shower.

The Leonids are known for producing some of the fastest meteors, which can reach as fast as 44 miles per second and result in fireballs that produce bright and colorful meteor streaks. However, the Leonids typically only produce about 15 shooting stars per hour.

Although its meteor rates are often low, the Leonids can be very impressive. About every 33 years, stargazers may experience a Leonid storm, which can peak with up to thousands of meteors seen per hour, NASA reports. The meteor storms caused by the Leonids have been observed since 1833, when it produced its first large meteor storm, releasing more than 100,000 meteors an hour.

This year, the moon will almost be fully illuminated when the Leonid meteor shower is at its peak, meaning the shooting stars may be difficult to see. For your best chance at viewing the celestial event, travel to a dark location away from city lights and pollution and give your eyes 30 minutes to adjust to the dark. Between midnight and dawn at its peak will be the best time to look out for the Leonids.