The 2022 Leonid meteor shower peaks on the night of November 17-18. The Leonids are usually an average meteor shower compared to others, typically with about 15 meteors per hour at its peak when seen from a very dark site. The Leonids are well known for a huge increase in meteor activity about every 33 years as Earth passes through denser debris regions that are part of certain past orbital paths followed by the source comet, Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. More meteors are likely to occur later in the night. This year they coincide with a lunar phase just after a waning quarter Moon, which will make them somewhat harder to see, especially near the Moon when it is up starting soon after midnight.
From a position in New York City, the Leonid meteor shower becomes visible after around 22:49 EST (0349 GMT) at night when its radiant point in Leo rises above the eastern horizon.
THE LEONIDS This image of a group of Leonid meteors was captured during NASA’s Leonid Multi-Instrument Aircraft Campaign (Leonid MAC) in 1999. Image: NASA/Ames Research Center/ISAS/Shinsuke Abe and Hajime Yano
