​Both the peak of the Leonids meteor shower and a partial lunar eclipse will be visible this week.


What You Need To Know

  • The Leonids meteor shower peaks Nov. 17

  • Meteors can be seen through Nov. 30

  • A partial lunar eclipse will be visible across North America on Nov. 19

  • The eclipse will be visible starting around 1 a.m. Eastern Time

Leonids meteor shower

First up will be the Leonids meteor shower, which peaks Wednesday, Nov. 17. 

Caused by the dust particles from the Tempel-Tuttle comet, up to about 15 meteors will be visible an hour in ideal conditions. A nearly full moon will block the fainter meteors. Still, if you're in a dark location after midnight, you may catch a glimpse of some of the brighter "shooting stars," as they are often (erroneously) called. 

The meteor shower will be visible as late as Nov. 30.

Lunar eclipse

If you miss the meteor shower, there's another night sky event taking place. A partial lunar eclipse will be visible across much of the planet, including North America, during the early morning hours of Nov. 19. 

A partial lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes through the partial shadow of Earth. You'll see the moon darken as it moves into Earth's shadow, then turn a reddish color around the peak of the eclipse.

In the Eastern Time Zone, the eclipse starts around 2:18 a.m (ET) with more noticeable darkening a bit more than an hour later, with the maximum at 4:03 a.m. For the West Coast, the eclipse will start around 10 p.m. on the night of Nov. 18, with the peak at 1:03 a.m. (PT)

Hit the video player above to get an idea of what to expect, courtesy of NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio.

While the almost-full moon will block out many meteors, the eclipse will be easier to see as long as clouds don't obscure the view. Check your forecast here to see if the sky will be clear.