Experience the Taurid and Leonid meteor showers, decorate the skies in November 2024

Meanwhile, the Leonid meteor shower is expected to take place from 17 to 18 November 2024. Announced on the LAPAN page on Friday (01/11/2024), the Leonid radiant point is located in the constellation Leo which can be seen around midnight

Typically, the Leonid meteor shower occurs between early and mid-November each year. The Leonid meteor shower is considered a major meteor shower, although the meteor rate is often only about 15 meteors per hour.

The Leonid meteor shower is a bright and colorful meteor. Leonids are also fast, moving at a speed of 44 miles (71 kilometers) per second, and are considered one of the fastest meteors.

The Leonid meteor shower appears from a large area in the constellation Leo, which is in the northeast sky for most people. At its peak, we may see this meteor shower every day.

The Leonid meteor shower comes from debris from comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. This comet has a highly elliptical orbit around the Sun every 33 years.

The Leonid meteor shower occurs when the earth passes through the debris of the comet. Meteoroids, small particles from comets, hit the Earth’s atmosphere, heat up and evaporate.

Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle was discovered by Wilhelm Tempel on December 19, 1865 and Horace Parnell Tuttle on January 6, 1866. This comet was named after its discoverers, Ernst Tempel and Horace Tuttle.

The “P” indicates that Tempel-Tuttle is a periodic comet. NASA JPL classifies this comet as a “Near Earth Asteroid” due to its orbit close to Earth.

(Tiffany)