The Leonid meteor shower peaks tonight (Nov. 17)

[Admin]

The Leonid meteor shower, created when the Earth passes through dust left behind by the Comet Tempel-Tuttle, peaks on Thurs to Fri, Nov. 17 to Nov. 18.

The Leonid meteor shower peaks tonight (Nov. 17) : Read more

 

[rod]

Where I am at in MD, weather looks very good for viewing tonight and early Friday morning. My plan is to enjoy Mars observations using my telescope and catch some Leonids streaking by too. By 2330 EST, Mars will be above 50-degrees elevation angle and near 17 arcsecond angular size in Taurus. The waning crescent Moon rises in Leo near 0056 EST Friday morning. Perhaps some Mars observations and Leonid viewing is on the way

 

[rod]

Success, some Mars and Leonid observations, last night and this morning.

Last night, Observed 2200-0000 EST. Some excellent views of Mars tonight near 2300 EST. 129x and 200x views used along with red and yellow filters. Polar caps more distinct now and the Mars Profiler tool at Sky & Telescope shows the dark areas visible I could see. Central meridian longitude near 49 degrees. The 23A red filter did a very good job here. TeleVue 9-mm Nagler used with TeleVue 1.8x Barlow. Also, TeleVue 14-mm Delos used with 1.8x Barlow for 129x views. As Mars elevation angle improved to 50-degrees or more, some excellent seeing. I did see two Leonids flash by soon after the radiant rose in Leo near 2310 EST. One moving past Cassiopeia and about as bright, 2nd magnitude. Some cirrus clouds began moving into the area near midnight, so I packed it in. 0455-0505 EST morning of 18-Nov-2022. I went back out briefly and observed 2, perhaps 4th magnitude Leonids streak by Capella in Auriga moving away from the radiant in Leo up high. The waning crescent Moon in Leo was bright with earthshine. Temperature -3C.