If you need to get into stargazing in 2025, there’s no higher place to start out than viewing a meteor bathe. Meteor showers, or taking pictures stars, occur when Earth’s orbital path crosses a path of particles left by a comet and that materials burns up within the Earth’s environment. Watching a meteor bathe is without doubt one of the most accessible methods to interact with the night time sky.
The following bathe are the Leonids, which final all through November and can peak round November 16-18. This is only one of 9 main meteor showers that may grace skies in 2025, and particulars of when they are going to seem within the northern hemisphere are listed beneath—so mark your calendar for these.
The way to Watch a Meteor Bathe
You don’t want any particular tools to see a meteor bathe—in truth, utilizing gadgets like binoculars or telescopes really prevents you from seeing meteors, as a result of they journey too quick to be seen by the lenses of such tools. All you want are your eyes, a darkish sky with little to no moonlight, and a location that’s away from extra gentle, as moonlight and lightweight air pollution can wash out taking pictures stars.
Observe that the moon seems (rises) and disappears (units) within the night time sky at totally different occasions relying on what time zone you might be in. All moonrise/moonset occasions on this piece are for the jap US. You need to use instruments like Time and Date’s moonrise/moonset calendar or this tool from the US Naval Observatory to verify the exact moonrise/moonset occasions in your actual location.
It is best to enable your eyes about half an hour to regulate to the darkness. If you could use a flashlight whereas exterior, use one with pink gentle as a substitute of white to protect your night time imaginative and prescient.
Every meteor bathe is called after its radiant, or the constellation that the bathe seems to return from. A meteor bathe’s radiant normally must be above the horizon earlier than you’ll be able to see the meteors. You don’t have to look straight on the radiant to see meteors; taking pictures stars will probably be seen all through all the sky as soon as the radiant has risen.
For those who need assistance discovering a bathe’s radiant, you need to use an app like Stellarium, which may additionally inform you when the radiant will probably be above the horizon in your actual location. For those who actually need to maximize the variety of meteors you’ll see, it’s best to watch the sky when the bathe’s radiant reaches its highest level within the sky. Nevertheless, you don’t want to attend till the radiant is at its highest to benefit from the present—so long as the radiant is above the horizon, it’s best to be capable to see loads of taking pictures stars.
The Subsequent Massive Meteor Bathe
The Leonids are lively from about November 3 to December 2. They’ve a pointy peak, producing essentially the most meteors in a single day from November 16 to November 17, in keeping with the American Meteor Society. Different organizations, nonetheless, predict that this bathe will peak from November 17 to November 18. Throughout the Leonids’ peak, you’ll be able to count on to see about 15 meteors per hour underneath darkish skies.
Though the Leonids produce fewer meteors than many different of the main meteor showers, they’re recognized for producing fast-moving, bright, fireball meteors.
