Leonid meteor shower

The Leonid meteor shower occurs when the Earth passes the orbital path of Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. The shower is witnessed after the debris of the comet enters Earth’s atmosphere and vaporizes. As it occurs at the forefront of the Leo Constellation, it is called a Leonid shower.

Key Points

• The meteor shower peaks into a meteor storm once in around 33 years and the most recent shower occurred during the year 1999.
• This meteor shower usually takes place and peaks in the month of November.
• The Leonids are a fast-moving stream which runs across the path of Earth and impact at 72 km/s.
• A Leonid meteor shower can accumulate 12 or 13 tons of particles across the entire planet.
• The Leonids have helped the researchers in developing a scientific study of meteors, after the major Leonid storm of 1833.

Leonid meteor shower 2020

Leonid meteor shower occurs from 6th to 30th November every year. The peak of Leonid meteor 2020 was from November 16 to 17. At the night, in no moon, one can see up to 10 to 15 meteors per hour at the shower peak.

Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle

Comet Tempel-Tuttle is an intrinsically faint and unremarkable comet that has only been observed on a few apparitions over the past 600 years.