This month is the time to look out for the Leonid Meteor shower. Maximum number of meteors per hour is expected on the 17th to 18th. Conditions are expected to be favourable and particularly dark, since this will be only a few days after new moon. As the name indicates, the radiant of the meteor shower will be located in the constellation of Leo. The radiant is the point in the sky from which all the meteors appear to originate from. Meteors, or more commonly called “shooting stars”, are small particles of space dust and debris that enter our atmosphere at high speeds, and burn up due to heat generated by air friction. For keen and enthusiastic observers, the radiant of the shower will be up above the horizon from about 03:00 to 04:00 in the mornings.
