Shooting stars are raining down over Germany: the highlight of the Leonids today
Created: 2022-11-25 05:03
By: Magdalena von Zumbusch
The Leonids can be seen again this year in November.
© Matthias Balk/dpa
Every year between November 6th and 18th a special spectacle can be observed at night: the Leonid shooting stars - this year there will be a particularly large number.
Munich - On summer nights, many people like to spend time with the starry sky.
What most people don't know: Late autumn also has a lot to offer.
In November, the so-called Leonid shooting stars can be observed every year, as the
district newspaper
reports.
Video: Leonid showers in November: Here you can see the shooting stars
Leonids: what is behind the shooting star streams?
There are shooting stars all year round, reports Ralf Greiner from the Kuffner Observatory in Vienna on their website.
However, their frequency varies greatly.
If they move particularly often across the night sky, one speaks of shooting star streams - this includes the Perseids in August and the Leonids - to be seen in November.
Basically, these are meteors, the Kuffner Observatory continues on its website.
Laypeople often think of it as large chunks of rock hurtling through space.
But these are often tiny particles that penetrate the earth's atmosphere from space and burn up there.
According to the Kuffner Observatory, the particles are sometimes only the size of a pinhead, but travel at a speed of ten to 70 kilometers per second.
Once a meteor makes it to the ground, astronomers speak of a meteorite.
As a rule, however, the meteors burn up on their way through the earth's atmosphere, and we know this luminous phenomenon as a shooting star.
As shooting stars, the Leonids are particles that burn up when they enter our atmosphere.
By the way, the name of the Leonids was not chosen by chance: They are named after an astronomical constellation - the lion (Latin: Leo) - from whose head they seem to shoot out in the sky (at least from our perspective from Earth).
The Leonid Stream is not always visible with the same intensity, explains Greiner from the Kuffner Observatory.
For the Leonid stream he recognized the comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle as the comet of origin.
This comet has an orbital period of 33 years and Earth crosses its orbit in mid-November.
Every 33 years, it gets caught up in a dense cloud of debris and there are particularly strong streams of shooting stars.
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In 2022, the meteor shower should be seen particularly intensely: around 200 shooting stars per hour should be observed.
That is more than in previous years, but in earlier decades there were years that cannot be compared: In the morning hours of November 17, 1966, for example, a meteor storm with 140,000 shooting stars could be admired in America in one hour.
Observing shooting stars: The night of November 17 regularly has the most Leonids to offer
The Leonids are expected between November 6th and 18th (or by the end of November at the latest).
The climax of the Leonids is said to be on the night of November 17 this year, as is usually the case, as the book "Kosmos Himmelsjahr 2022" by Hans-Ulrich Keller (the book is published annually on the current forecasts) reveals.
Incidentally, the meteors are easier to observe in the second half of the night, around 3 a.m. the probability is highest.
That's because the shooting star observers are then looking in the "travel direction" of Earth, as the Kuffner Observatory explains.
As a result, the meteor showers meet the sky watchers and are therefore easier to see.
However, the prediction of shooting stars is like the weather forecast: not everything can be predicted exactly.
Shooting stars fans used to have to inspect the sky with star charts.
Today there are apps for this, such as Google Sky Map, Star Walk 2 or the Star Atlas.
This can be used to find the constellation Leo, which should then be kept in view to see the Leonids.
Of course, the shooting stars are most clearly seen from a dark spot, as light pollution dilutes the phenomenon.
Hills or even mountains are ideal.
Then patience is required: the eyes need a certain amount of time to get used to the darkness.
Attention is also important: the Leonids are particularly fast, so they can only be seen briefly.
Have you seen one yet?
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