Leonids meteor shower Thursday night

Get your coffee pot ready if you want to catch the annual Leonids meteor shower. Like most showers, it has a broad peak days before and after but the predicted maximum will be after midnight on Friday morning (November 18th). The waning crescent moon will be a minor factor when it rises around 1:30 but you should plan on going out any time before dawn. The Leonids are not usually a major shower but there have been spectacular outburst in the past and some are predicting one this year. Meteors will appear to come from the “radiant” which is in the constellation Leo (thus the name) near the bright star Algleba. You can see them anywhere in the sky so don’t just stare towards the east. You can get more details and a finder chart here.