Leonid Meteor Shower to Flash Across the Night Sky Monday

By Michael Kuhne, AccuWeather.com Staff Writer

November 17,2014; 12:20AM,EST

 

 

As nightfall blankets the world in darkness Monday evening, stargazers will have a chance to witness the brilliant glowing streaks of the Leonid Meteor Shower flashing across the night sky.
"The Leonids are considered one of the more prolific meteor showers in our night skies every year," according to a Slooh.com press release. "They are associated with the comet Tempel-Tuttle, and have been known to produce at meteor storms with rates of nearly 1,000 meteors an hour."
In 1966, the Leonids produced a 15-minute interval where viewers witnessed 1,000 meteors per minute.
An area stretching from southern Idaho down into Texas, southern Plain and into the Southeast will have optimal viewing conditions with clear skies for this celestial event. The West Coast will moderate viewing conditions due to some cloud cover, however, areas along the East Coast, Great Lakes and Florida will have poor viewing conditions due to mostly cloudy or overcast skies.

While some may not have clear viewing conditions in their area due to weather or city lights, Slooh will be broadcasting the event, which can be viewed below:

Coverage will begin on Monday, Nov. 17 at 8:00 PM EST from Slooh's observatory at the Institute of Astrophysics, Canary Islands (IAC) and later from Prescott, Arizona at Prescott Observatory.
"They will be streaking across the whole of the night sky, so find some place far from city lights and keep looking up," according to Slooh.com.
The peak time to witness the meteors will be between the hours of midnight and dawn.
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Several AccuWeather.com Meteorologists contributed to this article

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Mary Loos

MLoosKATU

Ooo! Leonid meteor shower may be visible tomorrow night. Your wknd. forecast #liveonk2

Nov 15

gary

AstroSG

How to see Leonid #Meteor Shower 2014: 1. Look at North Eastern sky from sunset till sunrise 2. Patience 3. Patience 4. Patience 5. Patience

12h