Leonid meteor shower to cross Swiss night sky

Shooting stars of the Leonid stream in the Swiss night sky Keystone-SDA

Stargazers currently have the chance to spot shooting stars in the night sky. Until November 30, the Leonid meteor shower is lighting up the darkness.

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The maximum activity is expected on Sunday night, Marc Eichenberger, president of the Swiss Astronomical Society, told the Swiss News Agency Keystone-SDA.

However, as the moon is almost full two days before the maximum and therefore still lights up the sky all night, it may be difficult to spot the rather faint meteors, he said.

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It is generally advisable to look out for the meteors above the fog line or wherever the sky is clear and dark, Eichenberger said.

According to the Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss, there will only be clear skies in Valais and on the southern side of the Alps in the coming days. At the end of the week, fog is likely to prevail in the lowlands and Central Plateau.

The shooting stars are in fact the trail of comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttel, which passes past the Earth once a year. The comet was discovered in 1865 and takes around 33 years to orbit the sun. The Leonids are very fast meteors with penetration speeds of around 70 kilometres per second, or 252,000km/h.

Translated from German by DeepL/ts

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