November 2004

Much of the planetary action this month centres on early morning skies. The Moon and neighbouring worlds get set for a series of beautiful pairings.

Note: All these sky events are easily visible to the naked eye!

According to Sky and Telescope, the cometary crumbs that create Leonid meteors are traveling together through space along the orbit of Comet Tempel-Tuttle. So even though they can appear anywhere in the sky, they all seem to emanate from a spot in the constellation Leo. But in mid-November this constellation does not rise above the horizon until after midnight (this view is for 1 a.m. local time), so large numbers of meteors will not be seen until Leo rises.

It should peak before the first light of dawn on Wednesday morning, November 17th. But this year's display will probably be quite sparse. We're well past the 1999–2002 period, when skywatchers in some parts of the world saw Leonids streaking across the sky as often as once every second or two. The shower's parent comet, Comet Tempel-Tuttle, is long gone from its 1998 return through our part of the solar system, and so are the densest streams of meteoroids traveling in its path. The bottom line: this year, skywatchers with ideal dark-sky conditions might see 15 or 20 Leonids per hour on the morning of maximum. Any light pollution in the sky will reduce these numbers.