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Although with some fog, it has been a spectacular night to observe the Leonid rain, as shown in these images in La Vanguardia’s Readers’ Photos captured in the Puig-agut de Manlleu sanctuary, in the Osona region.
This past morning, from midnight to dawn, has been the ideal time to see the Leonid shower, since the crescent of the Moon hid before the radiant appeared on the horizon, allowing this stellar storm to be observed in optimal conditions, according to the National Astronomical Observatory (OAN).
It has been its time of maximum activity, taking place four days after the new moon (the new moon of November 13). To observe this stellar storm, the ideal is a dark place, without light pollution and with few obstacles to the view such as buildings, trees or mountains.
In this case, the environment of the Puig-agut sanctuary is perfect, as can be seen in the photographs and video. Furthermore, this church, which was the first temple of its kind in Spain to be dedicated to the Sacred Heart, is one of the most photographed.
Although the Leonids appear to come from the constellation Leo (hence their name), they can be seen anywhere in the sky, although experts recommend looking towards the darkest areas, in the opposite direction to the position of the Moon if The observation is made when it is present. The most comfortable thing, they recommend, is to lie down, observe and wait for your eyes to get used to the darkness.
The Leonid meteors are fragments of comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, which was discovered in 1865, and has an orbital period of 33.2 years.
Like every year, between November 6 and 30, the Earth passes through a ring populated with the fragments detached from comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle in previous passes near the Sun.
When one of these fragments (or meteoroids) comes into contact with the Earth’s atmosphere, it vaporizes due to friction with the air, thus creating the luminous glow that we know as a meteor or shooting star.
All meteors in a shower seem to have a single point of origin, this particular one is called “radiant”, and its location is used to name the meteor shower. Astronomers believe that the Leonids have their radiant in the constellation Leo.
Given the rate of storm activity is usually modest, between 10 and 20 meteors per hour, every 33 years, coinciding with the passage of comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle through the perihelion of its orbit, the Leonids give rise to spectacular meteor storms. meteors reaching a frequency of thousands of meteors per hour.
Some of these stellar storms have reached significant proportions, such as the one on the night of November 13, 1833 on the west coast of the United States. This morning at least has been a phenomenon worth observing.
