Watch an excellent display of meteor showers Saturday night

If you are a night owl or like to watch the show at a much earlier hour, then you’ll be able to get into the meteor shower this weekend.

The Leonids display, which is expected to be the most powerful in the years ahead, is due to peak in the overnight hours on Saturday, March 17. From about 1-5 am (CST), it is expected to be bright and full of greenish shooting stars — dazzling spectators up and down the East Coast with its beauty.

The Leonids are an annual event that is usually something of a disappointment. With only 6 meteors per hour usually produced and even fewer during peak nights, it doesn’t really excite an astronomer.

But the upcoming show promises to be the clearest in recent years because the sun was at its deepest point in the sky early in the morning this year and there was less dust swirling around the sun’s surface.

So excited I’m tearing up looking at this sky! Here is my office ceiling view of the #Leonids for 2019. Light pollution makes this view get even better. I used the red filter and one of my purple lights for this one. #LATimes #weather #snow #meteor #meteor shower #virgintopes #showme #snowcomet #snowy

In 2014, the meteor shower’s viewing conditions were actually better than the year before, with about 5.7 meteors per hour possible.

This is why NASA is predicting a Perseid-style meteor shower this weekend.

The situation in the sky, still a bit cloudy in much of the Northeast. We have #Perseid meteor shower tonight if you have the area south of the warmer water and that will be a lot better than 2015.

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