Every November, the Leonid meteor shower lights up the night sky across Minnesota. The Leonids is one of the year’s premier shooting star shows, averaging about 15 meteors per hour, depending on your vantage point.
The Leonid meteor shower occurs every year during the month of November. Although considered a modest meteor shower, it is known for producing spectacular fireballs on occasion.
The Leonids will produce an average of around 15 meteors per hour. At its peak, which happens just past mid-month, you could see 100-200 meteors per hour under ideal viewing conditions.
The Leonid meteor shower gets its name from the constellation Leo, from which the shower radiates.
In November, Leo is generally visible in the northern part of our Minnesota sky.
In its annual revolution around the sun, the Earth passes through the debris left by a comet. And this debris causes the Leonid meteor shower.
Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle passes around the sun every 33 years.
There are historical records demonstrating that the Leonids occasionally produce massive numbers of shooting stars, treating stargazers to shows of thousands of meteors per hour.
Such spectacles occur about every 33 years, and the last major Leonid meteor storm happened in 2002.
These meteor storms coincide with the parent comet’s closest proximity to the sun during its orbit.
For the best viewing, try and find as dark a sky as possible. In Minnesota, you’ll find the darkest skies up north, near the Canadian border and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
Because you’ll be looking generally north, you may even catch a bonus aurora while you’re counting shooting stars.
Will you get out to see the Leonid meteor shower in Minnesota this month? If you can make it to one of the state’s dark sky areas, like Voyageurs National Park, you’ll boost your odds for seeing the maximum number of shooting stars streak across the sky.
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