Leonids meteor shower 2026 and 2027

What the Leonids are

The Leonids come from comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, which takes about 33 years to orbit the Sun. NASA notes that it was discovered independently by Ernst Tempel in 1865 and Horace Tuttle in 1866, and that its nucleus is only about 2.2 miles (3.6 km) across. The comet’s next perihelion, its closest approach to the Sun, is due on May 20, 2031, according to the International Meteor Organization (IMO). The meteoroids Earth meets now are traveling ahead of it.

Every November, Earth crosses the comet’s orbit. When it passes through a dense, young trail of dust released on a recent orbit, rates can soar. In most years it meets only thinner, older material.

What they look like

Leonids are among the fastest meteors of any annual shower. NASA describes them as bright and sometimes colorful, and notes that the shower is known for fireballs and for earthgrazers, meteors that streak close to the horizon with long, colorful tails.

How to watch from the US

The radiant lies in the “Sickle” of Leo, the backward question mark that forms the lion’s head. Leo rises in the east around midnight in mid-November, which is why NASA recommends watching from about midnight onward. The radiant climbs until dawn, so the best hours we show for each city fall late in the night. Every part of the US sees the shower well, since the radiant is in the northern sky but not far north.

Look away from Leo rather than at it. NASA points out that meteors near the radiant look short, while those farther away show longer, more striking trails. Dress for cold, recline, and let your eyes adapt for about half an hour. Our guide to watching a meteor shower covers the rest.

Notable history

The Leonids are woven into American history. On the night of November 12-13, 1833, a storm of Leonids filled the sky over the United States; Smithsonian Magazine cites estimates of 50,000 to 150,000 meteors per hour. Yale professor Denison Olmsted gathered eyewitness reports through newspapers and showed that the meteors radiated from a fixed point in Leo, evidence that they came from space rather than the atmosphere.

NASA describes the 1966 storm as one of the most spectacular ever recorded: thousands of meteors per minute for about 15 minutes. Strong displays returned from 1998 through 2002, which the American Meteor Society calls the most recent Leonid storm period; NASA lists 2002 as the last storm. The AMS adds that studies show no storms in 2033 or 2066.

2026 and 2027 outlook

2026. IMO gives the regular nodal maximum on November 17 at 23:45 UT. Maslov’s model puts the peak at 16h UT that day, with a ZHR of about 15. ZHR is the rate under ideal dark skies with the radiant overhead. Models by Vaubaillon and by Sato show several encounters with low-density dust trails between November 17 and 19, but no significant outburst is expected. The Moon is near first quarter and sets around midnight, before Leo gets high.

2027. IMO collects several possible active periods, all model predictions:

• November 17 around 22h UT: ZHR 40 to 50 from material near the comet (Maslov 2007).
• November 18 around 06h UT: the regular nodal maximum.
• November 18 at 20h UT, November 19 at 12h UT and November 20 at 10h UT: old trails from Sato’s 2026 modeling, each perhaps a ZHR of 20 or more.
• November 20 around 04:18 to 04:25 UT: a possible burst of bright meteors from the 1167 trail, ZHR about 50 (Maslov 2007, Vaubaillon 2026). Vaubaillon stresses that the trail is very old and the details are uncertain.

For North America, the best-placed times are November 20 near 10h UT (5 a.m. EST, 2 a.m. PST) and, for the West, November 19 near 12h UT (4 a.m. PST). The 1167-trail burst comes at about 11:20 p.m. EST on November 19, with Leo only just rising in the East, and the nodal maximum falls at 1 a.m. EST on November 18, while the radiant is still low. A gibbous Moon will brighten the sky throughout. Details are on our 2027 calendar.