Big meteor shower to reach peak soon with bright fireballs, low moonlight

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NJ.com
Big meteor shower to reach peak soon with bright fireballs, low moonlight
Len Melisurgo
Fri, November 14, 2025 at 3:00 PM EST
2 min read





Bright fireballs may be streaking across the night sky in the coming days as the annual Leonid meteor shower reaches its peak at an almost perfect time when the moonlight will be very low.

The Leonid shower, known as one of the best meteor displays of the autumn season because of its vivid shooting stars, started to be visible on Nov. 3 and will continue to produce occasional meteors through Dec. 2.

It’s expected to be most active during the late-night hours on Sunday, Nov. 16 and into the early morning hours on Monday, Nov. 17.

Experts say the Leonid shower could generate as many as 10 to 15 meteors per hour during the peak period, if you can find an area with dark skies and little or no cloud cover.

The ideal viewing spot is as far away as possible from bright city lights and street lights.

The November moon will be in its waning crescent phase, giving off only 11% illumination on Sunday and just 6% brightness on Monday.

Space.com says the Leonids are among the fastest meteors of any major shower, “zipping through the sky at 44 miles per second.”

The Leonids “can also result in impressive fireballs producing long, bright and colorful meteor streaks,” the space website notes.



Leonid meteor shower to reach peak in November 2025


What causes meteors?

Some meteors come from leftover comet particles, and some originate from tiny bits of broken asteroid pieces, NASA says.

“When comets come around the sun, the dust they emit gradually spreads into a dusty trail around their orbits,” the agency adds. “Every year the Earth passes through these debris trails, which allows the bits to collide with our atmosphere where they disintegrate to create fiery and colorful streaks in the sky.”

The meteors from the Leonid meteor shower become visible when our planet passes through the field of debris left behind by a comet known as 55P/Tempel-Tuttle.

Space.com says that comet has a “highly elliptical orbit around the sun every 33 years.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/big-meteor-shower-reach-peak-200046380.html