2026 Leonid Meteor Shower Forecast for November 17 Peak

The 2026 Leonid meteor shower is forecast to peak around November 17, with estimates varying by several hours. The International Meteor Organization calendar places the regular maximum at 23:45 UTC, while other forecasts give different times.

Key details

• The International Meteor Organization calendar gives a peak time of November 17, 2026, at 23:45 UTC and an ideal rate of about 15 meteors per hour.
• Margaret Campbell-Brown and Peter Brown forecast November 18 at 00:00 UTC; Mikhail Maslov forecast November 17 at 16:00 UTC.
• Leonid meteors enter Earth’s atmosphere at about 72 kilometers per second.
• The shower is associated with comet Tempel-Tuttle, which has an orbital period of about 33⅓ years and last passed through the inner solar system in 1998.

The 1966 Leonid storm reached a reported peak of 40 meteors per second at Kitt Peak, Arizona.

Why it matters

The Leonids’ fast-moving meteors come from debris associated with Tempel-Tuttle. A forecast by Jérémie Vaubaillon and colleagues points to a possible outburst in 2034, with rates of up to 2,000 meteors per hour.