• The image at the top of this post is a famous woodcut of the 1833 Leonid meteor storm. No Leonid storm is expected this year, but if you watch in the next few mornings you might see a few meteors!

The young crescent moon will set soon after sunset tonight (November 15, 2012), leaving dark skies for this year's November 2012 Leonid meteor shower. Tonight is not the peak of the shower. The peak should come between midnight and dawn on Saturday morning, November 17. But you're likely to see Leonids tonight, too, as the shower climbs toward its peak. Just remember, this meteor shower is for night owls and early birds. As a rule of thumb, the Leonids intensify after midnight, and the greatest numbers fall just before dawn.
• In fact, all this weekend should be good for watching this annual shower. Again, the best viewing window should be between midnight and dawn Saturday, November 17. Even so, meteor showers are notorious for defying expectations, and any prediction should be regarded as a best guess - not an ironclad guarantee. If it's clear, you might see nearly as many meteors in the predawn darkness on Friday, November 16 or Sunday, November 17. Typically, you see 10 to 15 meteors per hour in the darkness before dawn.
• The moon won't interfere with this year's Leonid display. In fact, it'll be quite a challenge, finding the young moon with the planet Mars at nightfall these next few evenings. As seen from mid-northern latitudes, the thin waxing crescent moon and the red planet Mars sit low in the southwest sky about an hour after sunset and follow the sun beneath the horizon shortly after dark.
• It'll be much easier to see three other visible planets tonight: Jupiter, Saturn and Venus The blazing planet Jupiter rises in the east-northeast at early evening, and

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