Upcoming Meteor Showers: Dates, Peak Nights & Moon Conditions

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A fireball bright enough to cast a shadow crosses the sky in under two seconds, and the glowing train it leaves fades while you are still processing what you saw. You need no gear for this. You lie on your back, look up, and wait. The only questions are which night, and whether the Moon will let you see anything.

The next shower up is the Orionids, peaking October 21–22 (up to ~20/hr under a dark sky); after that come the Southern Taurids (November 4–5) and the Northern Taurids (November 11–12). Below: the next six peaks with the Moon on each night, the next twelve months at a glance, the full 2026 and 2027 calendars, a short section on every major shower, and how to watch well.

Upcoming meteor showers: the next six peaks

After clouds, moonlight decides how many meteors you see, so read the Moon column first. Rows in orange are the peaks worth planning a drive around. Active is the stretch of nights a shower is running at all; one marked active now is dropping a few meteors an hour tonight, well short of its peak.

Rule of thumb: a Moon under about a third lit, or one that sets before the radiant climbs, is a green light. A bright gibbous or full Moon means only the fireballs get through, and a shower that would give you 60 an hour from a dark site gives you 10.

The 2026 meteor shower schedule

The 2027 meteor shower schedule

The peaks barely move from year to year; what changes is the Moon. 2027 is a good year for the showers most people skip and a poor one for the two everybody knows: the Quadrantids and the Eta Aquariids get dark skies, while the Perseids and the Geminids both fight a bright Moon. Phases are computed for the peak night and rounded.

Quadrantids (January): the sharpest peak of the year

Peak: January 3–4. ZHR ~120. Radiant in northern Boötes, below the Big Dipper’s handle, highest in the hours before dawn.

On paper the Quadrantids match the Geminids. Almost nobody sees a strong one, because the peak is only about six hours wide, against two days for the Perseids, so if maximum lands in your daytime you get the shoulders and not much else. It is also the first week of January. The 2027 peak is the best-placed shower of that year, with a thin waning crescent that rises just before dawn. The International Meteor Organization publishes the predicted hour each December; if it lands in your night, this is the Geminids without the crowd, in colder air. Dress like it.

Lyrids and Eta Aquariids (April–May)

The Lyrids (April 22–23, ZHR ~18, radiant near Vega) end the winter drought: nothing much happens between the Quadrantids and late April. Most years they give a modest eighteen an hour with the occasional surge. The 2027 peak lands two days after full Moon, so expect only the bright ones.

The Eta Aquariids (May 5–6, ZHR up to ~40) are Halley’s Comet debris and the one major shower that favors the Southern Hemisphere. The radiant rises around 3am for the northern United States and gives you an hour or two of fast meteors with long trains before twilight; from Florida or Texas it is noticeably better. In 2027 the peak falls on a new Moon, dark all night, so if you are anywhere south it is worth the early alarm.

Perseids (August): the main event, and the late-July warm-up

Peak: August 11–13. ZHR ~100. Radiant in Perseus, in the northeast after 9pm, climbing all night.

The Perseids are consistent, prolific, and comfortable: summer air, a radiant that keeps rising until dawn, and an unusually high share of fireballs from the dense trail Comet Swift-Tuttle has left across Earth’s orbit. People who have watched only one meteor shower usually saw a Perseid fireball they still talk about. The 2026 peak fell on a new Moon, the darkest Perseid night since 2007. 2027 is the opposite: a waxing gibbous Moon about 85% lit sets only in the small hours, so plan on a fraction of the count and on the last hour before dawn.

For two weeks before the Perseids, from mid-July, two more streams are running: the Delta Aquariids (~20 an hour, better the farther south you are) and the Alpha Capricornids (five an hour, but slow, theatrical fireballs bright enough to survive moonlight). Any meteor on a late-July night could belong to any of the three, and speed and direction give them away: Perseids are fast and come out of the northeast, Delta Aquariids rise from the south, Alpha Capricornids amble. In 2027 a thin crescent on July 29–30 makes that window the better bet, and the Perseids two weeks later are the ones fighting the Moon.

Draconids and Orionids (October)

The Draconids (October 8–9, usually 10–20 an hour) are the one shower best watched in the evening, because the radiant in Draco is highest right after dark. The count is usually forgettable, but this is the shower that stormed in 1933 and 1946 and surged in 2011 and 2018 when Earth crossed fresh debris from Comet Giacobini-Zinner, so it is worth a look after dinner any year the Moon is down. In 2026 the Moon is a thin crescent that does not rise until before dawn; 2027 brings a first-quarter Moon up all evening.

The Orionids (October 21–22, ZHR ~20, radiant north of Betelgeuse, up after 11pm) are Earth crossing the outbound leg of Halley’s Comet’s debris; the Eta Aquariids in May are the inbound leg. They are among the fastest meteors of the year, thin and quick, prone to glowing trains. Twenty an hour is not a number to drive three hours for. It is a reason to walk outside if you are already up, because Orion in a crisp October pre-dawn sky is worth the trip on its own. In 2026 a waxing gibbous Moon about 80% lit is up until the small hours, so the dark window is short and late; 2027 gives a last-quarter Moon rising around midnight.

Taurids (October–November): the fireball showers

Peaks: Southern Taurids November 4–5, Northern Taurids November 11–12. ZHR ~5 each. Radiants in Taurus, near the Pleiades, well up by late evening.

Five an hour sounds like nothing, and most lists skip the Taurids for it. They are on this one because of what the five are. The two streams, both from Comet Encke, run for two months either side of Halloween and are rich in fireballs: slow, bright, often orange, the kind people report as something falling out of the sky. Fireball reports climb every autumn because of them, and in some years (2015 and 2022 most recently) Earth crosses a denser swarm and the big ones come several a night. Because the meteors are slow and the radiant is up most of the night, the Taurids are the most forgiving shower there is for a backyard: no alarm, no drive, a reclined chair on any clear November evening. In 2026 the Southern peak has a waning crescent and the Northern peak a thin waxing crescent, so both are dark.

Leonids (November): modest most years, legendary some years

Peak: November 17–18. ZHR ~15. Radiant in the Sickle of Leo, which clears the horizon after midnight; best in the two hours before dawn.

The Leonids are the fastest shower there is, about 44 miles a second, and every 33 years or so, when parent comet Tempel-Tuttle comes back through, they have produced the greatest meteor storms on record: thousands an hour in 1833 and 1966, and a run of strong displays from 1999 to 2002. A normal year is fifteen an hour, fast and bright, with a decent share of trains. The comet’s next return is 2031 and the forecasts for the early 2030s are mixed; until then, treat the Leonids as a pre-dawn bonus, not a destination. In 2026 a first-quarter Moon sets around midnight, so the hours the shower needs are dark. In 2027 a waning gibbous Moon sits in them.

Geminids and Ursids (December): the best shower most people miss

Peak: December 13–14. ZHR ~120. Radiant in Gemini, high by 9–10pm.

On paper the Geminids beat the Perseids, and in practice most people skip them because December is cold. That makes a dark-sky Geminid night one of the best-kept opportunities in amateur astronomy. The parent body is an asteroid, 3200 Phaethon, so the debris is rockier than a comet’s and the meteors run bright and colorful: whites, yellows, the odd green. The radiant is high early, so productive viewing starts before 10pm and you do not have to stay up until 2am. 2026 is the Geminid year: a waxing crescent Moon about 20% lit sets early, leaving a dark sky from the time the radiant is up until dawn. In 2027 the peak lands a day after full Moon and is washed out. If you drive to one dark site in the next two years, make it December 13, 2026, in a sleeping bag. Our Geminids 2026 guide has the hour-by-hour plan, where December skies are clearest, and how to stay warm for three hours.

The Ursids (December 22–23, ~10 an hour) are the quiet coda a week later, radiating from near Kochab in the Little Dipper, so the radiant never sets from mid-northern latitudes. 2026’s peak is next to a full Moon; 2027’s has only a late-rising last quarter.

How to watch

Three things decide how many you see, in order:

1. Dark sky. A ZHR-100 shower gives about 80–100 an hour from a Bortle 3–4 site and 15–25 from a Bortle 6–7 suburb. Light pollution does not shift the timing; it erases the faint majority. A one- to two-hour drive from most U.S. cities finds sky dark enough to matter. Check lightpollutionmap.info before you go.
2. Moon. A half Moon above the horizon drowns all but the brightest meteors. The tables above carry the Moon for every peak night; a thin crescent that sets by 10pm is workable, a quarter Moon up all night is not.
3. Patience. Plan on 90 minutes. Your eyes take 25–30 minutes to dark-adapt and keep improving for 45 more. Most first-timers quit at 20 minutes, right before the good part.

Best hours. For most showers the count climbs from 10pm and peaks in the hours before dawn, when your side of Earth turns into the oncoming stream. The Geminids and Draconids are the exceptions that reward the evening. No telescope: its field of view is far too narrow and you cannot know where the next one will appear. Lie back and take in as much sky as you can; meteors far from the radiant trace the longest streaks, so face a little away from it. Between showers, our stargazing for beginners guide and How to See the Milky Way use the same dark sites.

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What to bring

Nothing is required. Four things make the night better:

• Something to lie on. Staring straight up for 90 minutes is hard sitting or standing. A reclining camp chair holds the angle and keeps you outside long enough to see the good ones; a blanket on a ground mat works too. Check price ▸
• A red flashlight. White light destroys dark adaptation in seconds; a dim red one lets you check the time or read a chart without losing the night vision you spent 30 minutes building. Check price ▸
• Binoculars. Not for counting meteors. But when a fireball leaves a glowing train, binoculars on it in the first seconds let you watch the trail twist and drift for 10 to 15 seconds. A basic 10×50 pair is plenty; our astronomy binoculars guide has the picks. Nikon Action 10×50 ▸
• A sky app. Stellarium (free) shows the radiant’s position in your sky and the Moon’s rise and set times. Use red-screen mode. Stellarium (free) ▸

For the Geminids and Quadrantids, add warm layers: a thermal base layer, a hat, and hand warmers under a blanket are not overkill in a dark-sky field in December. The other approach is a sleeping bag rated for 20°F; lying flat in one is comfortable well past midnight.

Why meteor showers happen

Each year Earth’s orbit carries it through debris left by a comet, or in the Geminids’ and Quadrantids’ case an asteroid: sand grains to pebbles that hit the atmosphere at 25,000 to 160,000 miles an hour and ionize the air into a streak. The meteors in a shower all seem to come from one point, the radiant, because their tracks are parallel and foreshortening fans them out, the way train tracks seem to meet at the horizon. The ZHR (zenithal hourly rate) is the count per hour under a perfect dark sky with the radiant overhead; a good dark site delivers 50–70% of it, a suburb 20–40%.