The annual Leonid meteor shower is set to peak on Tuesday with forecasters predicting a modest display of around 15 to 20 meteors per hour under ideal conditions.
Astronomy enthusiasts across the United States and worldwide are looking toward the night sky this November as the Leonid meteor shower approaches its peak. The annual event is active from November 6 through November 30, with the main activity expected around November 17 and 18, according to MARCA.
Meteor Peak Timing Varies by Time Zone
The International Meteor Organization’s calendar places the regular maximum at 23:45 UTC on November 17, which translates to 6:45 p.m. Eastern Time, as reported by Space. Margaret Campbell-Brown and Peter Brown of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada forecast the peak at 00:00 hours UTC on November 18.
The Leonid Meteor Shower Is Returning—Look Up This November! 🌠 Every November, Earth travels through a trail of cosmic dust, turning tiny comet fragments into brilliant streaks of light. The Leonid meteor shower is expected to peak around November 17–18, 2026. Its meteors come… pic.twitter.com/D1vxKk0JD1
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In India, the maximum is expected at 5:15 a.m. IST on November 18, with the radiant climbing after midnight, Mashable India noted. For American observers, the best opportunities to spot the streaks will come during the overnight hours and into the morning of November 18 once the Moon has set.
Mark Rao, an instructor and guest lecturer at the Hayden Planetarium in New York who writes on astronomy for publications including Natural History, Sky and Telescope, and The Old Farmer’s Almanac, notes that getting away from city lights and staying up late or waking up early provides the best view.
Favorable Moon Phase
Moonlight will be less troublesome during the key viewing hours this year. The Moon reaches its first-quarter phase on November 17 and is only 41 percent illuminated, according to Around Prague. It sets in the west around midnight just as the radiant rises in the east, leaving darker skies for pre-dawn viewing.
Universe Today noted that planets Mars and Jupiter, the bright star Regulus, and the antihelion point sit nearby in the sky during the 2026 display, with Mars and Jupiter appearing close together near the constellation Leo just before sunrise on November 18.
Comet Tempel-Tuttle Debris Creates Fast Meteors
The debris creating the shower originates from periodic comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, which sweeps through the inner solar system and completes one orbit around the Sun roughly once every 33 years, reaching perihelion 0.975 astronomical units from the Sun just inside Earth’s orbit on May 20, 2031. Because Earth plows into this cosmic dust trail almost head-on, the Leonids rank among the fastest meteors.
They approach the inner solar system with a combined velocity close to 70 kilometers per second, near the theoretical maximum for such meteors.
Leonids History Includes Intense Meteor Storms
While 2026 is projected to be a lean year with roughly 15 to 20 meteors per hour, the Leonids carry a history of intense meteor storms, including past displays in 1833 and 1966 when rates of tens of thousands per hour were observed, as well as lesser displays reaching a few thousand per hour in 1999, 2001, and 2002. Sixty years ago, on November 17, 1966, observers over the southwestern U.S. witnessed a staggering display.
“Pacific Time.”
November's Leonid Meteor Shower: A Storm in 2026? https://t.co/bsxvOznRYs
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Earlier coverage: Tears of the Lion: Catching the 2026 Leonid Meteor Shower