Stargazers in Malaysia can look forward to the Leonid meteor shower, which will be at its peak on the night of Tuesday (Nov 17) into the early hours of Wednesday (Nov 18), when around 15 meteors an hour may be visible under good conditions, according to the Malaysian Space Agency (MYSA).
The shower is active from Nov 6 to 30, the agency said, and conditions this year are promising because the moon will set at about 1.23am on Nov 18, leaving darker skies in which fainter meteors are easier to see. The hours after moonset should offer the best viewing.
The Leonids occur when the Earth passes through the trail of dust and debris left behind by comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. The particles burn up as they hit the atmosphere at more than 70km a second, producing the bright streaks of light often called shooting stars, and some leave glowing trails that linger for a moment after the meteor itself has gone.
The shower takes its name from the constellation Leo, the point in the sky from which the meteors appear to radiate. But the meteors can streak across almost any part of the sky, so there is no need to search for Leo itself.
Watching a meteor shower needs no special equipment. Telescopes and binoculars narrow the field of view, so the naked eye works best. Skywatchers should find a dark spot away from streetlights and buildings, give their eyes 20 to 30 minutes to adjust to the dark, and avoid glancing at bright phone screens.
The figure of about 15 meteors an hour assumes clear, dark skies, so people in brightly lit cities are likely to see far fewer. Clouds could also get in the way, as the northeast monsoon, which brings heavy rain to many parts of the country, is under way.
MYSA has explained several unusual sights in Malaysian skies this month, including bright lights from a retired Nasa telescope burning up and a light over Sabah that came from a Chinese rocket launch.