Look Up! Leonid Shower Is Hitting Tonight; Where And When To Watch

As the supermoon passes, a new event in space can be seen tonight. A Leonid meteor shower will be hitting soon.

The Leonid Meteor Shower counts as one among the annual meteor showers. The name comes from the Leo star constellation. It usually occurs when the Earth passes through the debris from the comet Temple-Tuttle, which has a 33-year orbit around the Sun, according to The Sun.

After the Earth passes through, it then falls going to the Earth's surface.Then, it drags in the atmosphere that causes the debris to heat up and burst into fireballs and results to meteors.

This week, one of the most famous of the annual meteor displays is due to reach its peak: the #Leonid meteor shower. https://t.co/0vtLaPJUyx

— Explore Deep Space (@XploreDeepSpace) November 17, 2016

Now, the experts advise that on Nov. 17 and the sky is crystal clear, people can see the Leonid shower. The shower's radiance is near the Sickle asterism in Leo's head. The lion will rise up northeast between 11 p.m. and midnight.

In that case, the Moon is already well up in the sky. The experts share that people can watch to the direction wherever the sky is the darkest. Also, it will definitely help if people can find where the Moon is blocked from the people's view such as the tree or a building.

The Leonid meteor shower is underway, but a Supermoon could stand in the way. https://t.co/FUdAhQZf68 pic.twitter.com/7UKHGix16V — Astronomy Magazine (@AstronomyMag) November 14, 2016

As for the Leonid shower path, the Leonids are only counted if the meteor's flight path that is streaking away from the direction the constellation Leo. As follows, the speed is incredibly fast. In the Earth's atmosphere, it falls at 160,000 mph per second or 71 km. Occasionally, they form a dazzling fireball with an afterglow also called as a train, it can linger a ghostly thread at about a minute in the sky, according to Sky and Telescope.