The Leonids return from November 6 to 30, 2026, peaking on the night of November 17–18. With 10 to 15 meteors per hour under a dark sky, lingering trails, and the Moon setting around midnight, conditions are good. Here’s how to observe fall’s fastest meteor shower from Switzerland and France.
The Leonids originate from Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, which orbits the Sun every 33 years. With each pass, it leaves behind a cloud of dust. When Earth passes through this cloud in November, the dust particles enter the atmosphere at 71 km/s: this is the fastest meteor shower of the fall. This speed produces bright meteors with lingering trails, sometimes colored (green, blue, yellow).
About every 33 years, when Tempel-Tuttle passes close to the Sun again, the stream can produce a meteor shower: thousands of meteors per hour. The showers of 1833, 1966, and 2001 remain famous. In 2026, no storm is expected: Tempel-Tuttle’s last pass was in 1998, and the next one is predicted for around 2031. A moderate peak of 10 to 15 meteors per hour is expected.
The radiant of the Leonids is in the constellation Leo, near the star Regulus. From Switzerland, Leo rises around 11:00 p.m. to midnight in November. The radiant does not reach a high point in the sky until after midnight, peaking around 3:00–4:00 a.m.
The Moon is in its first quarter on November 17. It sets around midnight, leaving the sky dark for the rest of the night. The optimal viewing window runs from 12:30 a.m. to 5:30 a.m.: the radiant is high, the sky is dark, and dawn has not yet broken.
The peak itself is expected around 11:45 p.m. UTC on November 17 (12:45 a.m. CET on November 18). But activity will remain strong over several nights: from November 16 to 19, you can see Leonids.
Do not look directly at the radiant. Meteors appear all over the sky, but they all seem to come from the radiant. If you look directly at the radiant, the meteors will appear short (due to perspective). Look at a 45-degree angle from the radiant: the trails will be longer and more spectacular.
From Switzerland, Leo rises in the east. Look toward the southeast after midnight, then toward the south as the radiant rises. Jupiter and Mars are right next to the radiant, in conjunction on November 15–16: a beautiful setting for observation.
For meteors, no binoculars, no telescope. An instrument’s field of view is too narrow to capture a meteor. Your eyes are enough, as long as you’re under a dark sky and have let your eyes adjust for 20–30 minutes.
What you’ll need: a lounge chair or deck chair, warm clothes (it gets cold at night in November), a blanket, and patience. Plan on at least an hour of observation to see several meteors. Under a truly dark sky (Bortle 1–3), you can see 10 to 15 meteors per hour. In the city, far fewer.
To photograph meteors, use a mirrorless or DSLR camera with a wide-angle lens (14–24 mm) with a maximum aperture of f/2.8 or wider, mounted on a tripod, and equipped with an intervalometer. Take continuous 30-second exposures at ISO 1600 to 3200. You’re not photographing the meteor itself—you’re taking continuous shots of the sky and hoping that a meteor crosses the frame during one of the exposures.
The 500 Rule (500 divided by the focal length in mm) gives the maximum exposure time before star trails appear: at 24 mm, 20 seconds; at 14 mm, 35 seconds. A nice foreground (trees, mountains, a cabin) makes the photo more interesting.
Fall has three meteor showers. The Taurids (early November, ZHR 5) are slow and produce fireballs. The Orionids (late October, ZHR 20) are fast, like the Leonids, which originate from Halley’s Comet. The Leonids (Nov. 17–18, ZHR 15) are the fastest (71 km/s) and produce persistent trails. The Taurids are slow (27 km/s), the Orionids are of moderate speed (66 km/s), and the Leonids are the fastest.
Already covered on the blog: the Orionids and Draconids. The Leonids round out the fall trio.
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This article is based on data from EarthSky (Leonid Meteor Shower 2026), NASA (Skywatching November 2026), and the Natural History Museum (Meteor Showers Guide). The image of the meteor is by Navid Baraty (CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons), taken during the peak of the 2009 Leonids. The image of the star party is from the National Park Service (public domain).
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