Leonids 2026: shoot the mornings of Nov 17 and 18

Dates and times

• Active: about Nov 6 to Nov 30; some sources give a wider window, Nov 3 to Dec 2.
• Peak: about 23:50 UT on Nov 17, which is 6:50 p.m. EST, 5:50 p.m. CST, 4:50 p.m. MST and 3:50 p.m. PST on Tuesday, Nov 17. The American Meteor Society gives 0:00 UT on Nov 18, ten minutes later.
• At peak time the radiant hasn't risen anywhere in the lower 48, so the practical choices are the predawn hours of Tuesday, Nov 17 and Wednesday, Nov 18. The second morning is slightly closer to the peak.
• Clocks: daylight saving time ended on Nov 1, so all times here are standard time, and Arizona is on the same clock as Denver.

The Moon and the radiant

The Moon reaches first quarter on Nov 17 and, a little over half lit, sets around midnight local time on the night of Nov 17–18.

Calculated moonset times for that night run from about 11:50 p.m. in Chicago to about 12:40 a.m. in Phoenix. The night before, the Moon is a little thinner and sets a little earlier.

The radiant sits in the Sickle of Leo, the backward question mark of stars that forms the lion's head. It rises between about 10:40 p.m. and midnight local time, is about 30 degrees up by around 2 a.m. and keeps climbing until dawn. The Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers suggests starting once the radiant is about 30 degrees up, and counts are usually highest in the last hours before dawn, when the radiant is highest. So plan on about 1 or 2 a.m. until the sky brightens.

Realistic rates

The Leonids' zenithal hourly rate (ZHR) is about 15. ZHR is the rate one observer would see under a perfectly dark sky with the radiant overhead, so it's a ceiling, not a forecast. EarthSky's estimate for a dark, moonless sky is 10 to 15 Leonids an hour; with the radiant partway up and some light pollution, most people will count fewer.

Leonids are the fastest meteors of the season, about 71 km (44 miles) per second. They come from Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, and the shower is known for storms roughly every 33 years. This isn't one of those years: EarthSky says no Leonid storm is expected in 2026. The comet's next perihelion is in early 2031.

Several random meteors appear on any clear night, NASA notes, so trace each trail back. A Leonid points to the Sickle.

Planets near the radiant

This year Leo has company before dawn. Mars and Jupiter are in the same part of the sky: on the morning of Nov 16 Mars passes 1.2 degrees from Jupiter, and on Nov 26 it passes 1.7 degrees from Regulus, the bright star at the base of the Sickle. A frame that holds the radiant, the two planets and a foreground is a good alternative to a meteor-only composite.

Lower in the east, Venus is the brilliant morning star and reaches its greatest brilliancy on Nov 29. Mercury is in the morning sky from about Nov 13 to Dec 4; its greatest western elongation falls on the evening of Nov 20 in US time, so look low in the east about an hour before sunrise on Nov 20 and 21.

Where to go in mid-November

The desert Southwest has the best odds of clear skies, while the Pacific Northwest and the Upper Great Lakes turn cloudier as winter approaches. Some high park roads start closing after the first snow, so check conditions before a long drive.

• Texas: Big Bend National Park, and nearby Big Bend Ranch State Park, whose star parties require reservations.
• Four Corners: Chaco Culture National Historical Park (dirt roads; high-clearance four-wheel drive advised), Natural Bridges National Monument and Grand Canyon National Park.
• California and Nevada: Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, and Great Basin National Park, where the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive closes for winter and after snowfall.
• Rockies and Northwest: the Central Idaho Dark Sky Reserve, Great Sand Dunes and Black Canyon of the Gunnison national parks in Colorado, and the Oregon Outback Dark Sky Sanctuary.
• East and Midwest: Cherry Springs State Park in Pennsylvania, whose Overnight Astronomy Observation Field is open all night to registered users; the Headlands near Mackinaw City, Michigan; Mayland Earth to Sky Park in North Carolina; and Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument in Maine, a Dark Sky Sanctuary.

Camera settings

• Lens and exposure: your widest lens (14 to 24 mm on full frame) at its widest aperture, f/1.4 to f/2.8, and ISO 1600 to 6400. For exposure length, divide 500 by the focal length, after applying your crop factor: about 25 seconds at 20 mm. The stricter NPF rule, which most astro apps calculate, gives shorter times on high-resolution sensors.
• Leonids are fast and brief, so keep the aperture wide open rather than stopping down.
• Framing: before about 2 a.m., Leo is still low in the east, which suits a landscape in front. Later, aim about 20 to 40 degrees from the radiant and 50 to 70 degrees up.
• Shoot continuously with an intervalometer, in RAW, with long-exposure noise reduction off so there are no gaps between frames.
• Batteries: cold shortens battery life. Keep spares warm in an inside pocket and swap them in as needed.
• Phones: use a tripod and night mode at its longest setting, and take many frames. Expect to catch only the brightest meteors.
• Share your Leonid frames, or the planets over Leo, in the Astro photography hobby on Garbamons.