Leonids

Moon at peak (2026-11-17)

Observing tips

• Best viewed from a dark site with no moonlight after midnight, when the radiant in Leoclimbs higher and Earth's orbital motion sweeps the leading edge through the meteor stream.
• Lie flat looking ~50° from the radiant — meteors with longer tails appear at this angle than directly at the radiant point.
• ZHR 15is a theoretical maximum: clear sky, radiant overhead, no light pollution. Real-world rates at most observers' latitudes are typically 30-60% of ZHR.
• Allow your eyes 20+ minutes to adapt to darkness; avoid looking at phone screens during the session.

What is ZHR?

Zenithal Hourly Rate (ZHR) is the number of meteors a single observer would see in one hour under perfect conditions: a moonless, cloudless sky with the radiant directly overhead and a limiting magnitude of +6.5. It is a normalisation, not a forecast. Observers at lower radiant altitude or under any light pollution will see substantially fewer meteors than the published ZHR suggests.