This year's display of Leonid meteors peaks on November 17th, but they'll be largely washed out thanks to strong interference from the Moon.
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The direction to watch is wherever your sky is darkest, and it will certainly help to pick a spot where the Moon is blocked from your view by a building or tree.
Notice the meteors' flight paths; only those streaking away from the direction to the constellation Leo are Leonids. They're incredibly fast-movers as meteors go, striking Earth's atmosphere at 71 km per second (160,000 mph). Sometimes they create dazzling fireballs with an afterglow (technically known as a train) that can linger as a ghostly thread in the sky for up to a minute.
For more information, read our article Basics of Meteor Observing. And you can also download S&T's free eBook on meteor observing.
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