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Annual Meteor Shower Calendar: When to See Each One

Tap a meteor shower to see its peak date and rate.

Quadrantids

Peak: around Jan 3–4 Β· Rate: up to about 120/hour. This shower opens the year, but its peak is unusually short and sharp, so timing your viewing precisely matters.

Lyrids

Peak: around Apr 22 Β· Rate: about 10–20/hour. Recorded in ancient Chinese astronomical records, one of the longest-observed showers, lighting up spring night skies.

Eta Aquariids

Peak: around May 5–6 Β· Rate: up to about 50/hour. Debris from Halley's Comet, especially well seen from the Southern Hemisphere.

Perseids

Peak: around Aug 12–13 Β· Rate: 100+/hour. Summer's signature shower, and thanks to mild weather, widely considered the most popular meteor-watching event of the year.

Orionids

Peak: around Oct 21 Β· Rate: about 20/hour. Another shower from Halley's Comet debris, visible near the constellation Orion on autumn nights.

Leonids

Peak: around Nov 17–18 Β· Rate: about 15/hour (with periodic outbursts). Usually modest, but famous for producing "meteor storms" of thousands per hour on a roughly 33-year cycle.

Geminids

Peak: around Dec 14 Β· Rate: up to about 150/hour. Widely considered the most spectacular and reliable shower of the year, and unusual in originating from an asteroid (3200 Phaethon) rather than a comet.

How Meteor Showers Form

Meteor showers happen when Earth's orbit carries it through a trail of debris left behind by a comet or asteroid; that debris burns up brightly from friction with the atmosphere. Because Earth passes through the same trail at roughly the same time each year, each shower repeats on a predictable annual schedule.

A Few Tips for Watching

Meteor showers cover a wide swath of sky, so the naked eye actually works better than a telescope. Getting away from city lights, waiting for your eyes to adjust to the dark, and checking the moon phase all make a real difference in how many meteors you catch.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need special equipment to see a meteor shower?

No β€” because you need to watch a wide area of sky, your unaided eyes work better than a telescope, which narrows your field of view too much.

Can you see meteor showers from a city?

You can, but light pollution means only the brightest meteors will be visible and only rarely. The farther you get from city lights, the more meteors you'll be able to spot.