Leonids in New York

The Leonids meteor shower peaks from New York around Nov 17, with up to 15 meteors per hour under ideal conditions. In 2026 a thin crescent moon leaves mostly dark skies, and from New York the radiant in Leo climbs to 66° above the south-east horizon around 05:10. Local best viewing window: 01:20–05:10 EST on the peak night, about 3.8 hours of astronomical darkness. Scaled to that altitude, the 15/hour headline figure works out to roughly 14 meteors an hour from New York under a genuinely dark sky. Tonight: heavy cover, with only occasional breaks.