A Field Notes guide to the fastest meteors of the year — night of November 16 into November 17, 2026. This guide includes a few affiliate links for gear and lodging we recommend — see our disclosure for details.

In 1833, people across North America woke their neighbors, convinced the sky was ending. Meteors fell at a rate later estimated at well over one hundred thousand per hour, so dense that observers described it as snow. That event was the Leonids, and while nothing close to a repeat is expected in 2026, the shower that caused it returns every November, a reliable, moderate display built from the same comet that once produced one of the most extraordinary nights in the history of astronomy.

About the Leonid Meteor Shower

PEAK NIGHT | Night of November 16, into the early hours of November 17, 2026

RADIANT | Constellation Leo, near the star pattern known as the Sickle

PEAK RATE | About 15 meteors per hour under dark skies

PARENT BODY | Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle

MOON CONDITION | First quarter, setting before midnight and leaving the rest of the night dark

BEST VIEWING WINDOW | Midnight until dawn, after the moon sets

BEST HEMISPHERE | Visible from both hemispheres

About the Leonids

The Leonids come from Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, which completes one orbit of the sun roughly every 33 years. Each time it swings close to the sun, fresh debris sheds off its surface, and when Earth later crosses a young, still-dense ribbon of that material, the result can be a true meteor storm rather than an ordinary shower. The 1833 storm, along with a similarly explosive display in 1966 and a strong showing in 2001, all trace back to this pattern.

In an ordinary year, without a fresh debris trail nearby, the Leonids settle into a much calmer rhythm: around 15 meteors per hour, but exceptionally fast ones, striking the atmosphere at 71 kilometers per second, more than 200 times the speed of a rifle bullet. That speed gives Leonid meteors a distinctive blue-green trail, and some leave glowing trains that can linger in the sky for several minutes. The shower arrives in the middle of a genuinely busy stretch of the November calendar, sandwiched between the Four-Planet Alignment two mornings earlier and next week's Full Supermoon.

✨ One More Thing

The 1833 Leonid storm did more than terrify onlookers. It is widely credited with launching the scientific study of meteor showers. Before that night, meteors were generally assumed to be an atmospheric phenomenon, unrelated to space. Astronomers who carefully tracked the 1833 storm noticed that all the meteors appeared to radiate from a single point in the constellation Leo, a discovery that helped establish that meteor showers are caused by Earth passing through the debris trail of a specific comet.

Best Time and Direction to Look

The Leonids' radiant in Leo does not rise until late evening and takes time to climb to a useful height, so the shower rewards patience over an early start. The most productive hours fall after midnight and continue improving toward dawn, as Leo rises higher and the sky's rotation brings the observer's side of Earth more directly into the debris stream.

A first quarter moon will light up the early evening in 2026, but it sets before midnight, meaning the best viewing window opens up naturally once the moon is out of the way. No equipment is necessary. As with most showers, meteors can appear anywhere in the sky, so a wide, unobstructed view works better than staring directly at Leo.

Worth packing: Leonid persistent trains can glow for minutes rather than seconds, which makes them a genuinely rewarding, if unpredictable, subject for photography. A wide lens like the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 on a sturdy tripod, paired with an intervalometer shooting continuously through the post-midnight hours, gives the best odds of catching one on camera.

Photographing the Leonids

Because Leonid meteors are unusually fast, exposures need to stay on the shorter side to avoid the streak appearing washed out or overexposed against the rest of the frame. A 10 to 15 second exposure at f/2.8, ISO 1600 to 3200, on a wide, fast lens focused manually to infinity, is a good starting point. Set up before midnight so the camera is ready when the moon sets and the real activity begins.

If a persistent train does appear, resist the urge to immediately check the shot on the camera's screen with a bright display, since it can cost you the rest of the sequence's dark adaptation for reviewing gear. Let the intervalometer keep running and review everything later, once the shower has wound down toward dawn.

Best Places to Experience the Leonids

Because the Leonids are a moderate-rate shower without the reliability of the year's biggest showers, dark skies make a bigger relative difference here. The three picks below range from a genuinely protected dark-sky glamping option to the simple fact that elevation itself helps.

A certified International Dark Sky Park

Because the Leonids are a moderate-rate shower without the reliability of the Geminids or Perseids, genuinely dark skies make a proportionally bigger difference here, turning a handful of visible meteors into a noticeably fuller count.

A high-elevation rural overlook

Elevation above valley haze and light domes helps considerably for the Leonids, since their radiant needs to climb reasonably high before the shower reaches its best rates.

Where to Stay

A post-midnight shower like this one rewards genuine commitment more than most on the calendar, since the best hours arrive well after a normal bedtime. That tends to favor either a comfortable, insulated stay close to the viewing spot, or true off-grid darkness for anyone willing to stay up for it either way.

• Dark-Sky Glamping Stay: [Affiliate placeholder — insulated tent or cabin lodging near a certified dark sky park]

• Remote Dark-Sky Camp: [Affiliate placeholder — off-grid option for the darkest possible post-midnight sky]

• Budget-Friendly Stargazing Stay: [Affiliate placeholder — value lodging within driving distance of a dark-sky site]

⚠ Safety Note: The best Leonid activity falls in the coldest hours before dawn, well after most people have gone to bed, which is exactly when it is easiest to underestimate how cold you have become. Set a phone alarm to check in on how you are feeling every 30 to 45 minutes, keep a backup layer in the car rather than just on your body, and if you are driving to a remote viewing spot alone late at night, let someone know your plan and expected return time.

What to Bring

The single biggest lever tonight is simply staying warm enough, and comfortable enough, to actually make it to the best hours after midnight, rather than giving up early because the wait felt colder than expected.

• Warm layers: Mid-November nights after midnight can drop well below what the evening temperature suggested; a genuine winter piece like the Arc'teryx Beta LT Jacket blocks wind effectively during a long, still wait. [Gear affiliate placeholder]

• A reclining chair: Comfort matters over the hours-long window between moonset and dawn. [Gear affiliate placeholder]

• Red light flashlight: Preserves night vision during the long wait for Leo to climb higher. [Gear affiliate placeholder — dedicated red-light category coming soon]

• A camera on a tripod: Leonid trains can linger for minutes, making them a rewarding, if unpredictable, astrophotography target. [Gear affiliate placeholder]

Frequently Asked Questions About the Leonids

Will there be a meteor storm in 2026?

No storm is predicted for 2026. Meteor storms occur when Earth passes through an unusually dense, relatively young debris trail from Comet Tempel-Tuttle, and current models do not point to that happening this year.

When is the next Leonid storm expected?

The comet's next close approach to the sun is expected around 2031, with the possibility of enhanced activity in the years following, though a storm on the scale of 1833 or 1966 is never guaranteed.

Why are Leonid meteors described as fast?

Leonids strike the atmosphere at about 71 kilometers per second, among the fastest of any annual shower, because Earth and the meteoroids are moving nearly head-on into each other along their orbits.

Do I need to find the constellation Leo to see meteors?

No. While the radiant lies in Leo, meteors can appear across the whole sky. A wide, unobstructed view is more useful than focusing on one constellation.

Final Thought

Most years, the Leonids offer a quiet, moderate display, worth a night outside but rarely worth reorganizing a trip around. Every so often, though, this same shower reminds the world exactly what it is capable of. Watching it, even in an ordinary year, means watching the same stream of debris that once turned a November night into a sky full of falling stars.

[Internal link placeholder — Plan Your Leonids Trip / View the Full November Sky Calendar]

Related Events

• Four-Planet Alignment: Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter gather in the dawn sky two mornings earlier, on November 14, 2026.

• Northern Taurids Meteor Shower: A dark, nearly moonless shower peaks earlier the same month, on November 11, 2026.

• Full Supermoon: The first of three consecutive supermoons rises the following week, on November 24, 2026.

Facts and figures in this guide are cross-checked against NASA, the International Meteor Organization, and the American Meteor Society, and updated as new forecasts are released.