Meteor Showers 2026–2027: Calendar, Peak Dates and When to Watch Tonight

A good meteor shower is the easiest sky show there is: no telescope, no forecast model, no special camera – just a dark place, a reclining chair and an hour of patience. The catch is timing. Each shower peaks on a particular night, and the Moon can wash out all but the brightest meteors. This part of our Night Sky Guide lists every major meteor shower from October 2026 through the Perseids of August 2027, with peak nights, active periods, expected rates and how bright the Moon will be, and then explains what time to watch and where to look tonight.

Meteor shower calendar 2026–2027

The dates below come from the American Meteor Society's 2026/2027 meteor shower calendar, which gives the peak night, the active period and the Moon's illumination on peak night. The zenithal hourly rate (ZHR) comes from the International Meteor Organization's 2026 Meteor Shower Calendar. ZHR is a calculated maximum: the number of meteors an ideal observer would see in an hour under a perfectly clear, very dark sky with the shower's radiant directly overhead. Real counts are almost always lower.

Shower	Peak night	Active	ZHR (IMO)	Moon on peak night (AMS)
Orionids	Oct 21–22, 2026	Oct 2 – Nov 7	20	76%, waxing gibbous
Southern Taurids	Nov 4–5, 2026	Sep 20 – Nov 20	7	22%, waning crescent
Northern Taurids	Nov 11–12, 2026	Oct 20 – Dec 10	5	5%, waxing crescent
Leonids	Nov 16–17, 2026	Nov 6–30	15	41%, first quarter
Geminids	Dec 13–14, 2026	Dec 4–17	150	17%, waxing crescent
Ursids	Dec 21–22, 2026	Dec 17–26	10	91%, waxing gibbous
Quadrantids	Jan 3–4, 2027	Dec 28, 2026 – Jan 12, 2027	80	16%, waning crescent
Lyrids	Apr 21–22, 2027	Apr 14–30	18	99%, full
Eta Aquariids	May 5–6, 2027	Apr 19 – May 28	50	1%, waning crescent
Southern Delta Aquariids	Jul 30–31, 2027	Jul 12 – Aug 23	25	12%, waning crescent
Alpha Capricornids	Jul 30–31, 2027	Jul 3 – Aug 15	5	12%, waning crescent
Perseids	Aug 12–13, 2027	Jul 17 – Aug 24	100	81%, waxing gibbous

The ZHR values are IMO's figures based on recent returns, listed in its 2026 calendar; individual years vary, and the 2027 rates will be confirmed in IMO's next calendar. The Eta Aquariid ZHR applies best to the southern tropics: from the US, the AMS expects only 10–30 meteors per hour just before dawn.

The best showers to watch in the next 12 months

Geminids, December 13–14, 2026. The AMS calls the Geminids usually the strongest meteor shower of the year, and 2026 is a good year for them: the Moon is only a 17% crescent on peak night and sets in the evening. The Geminids are also the one major shower that is active before midnight, because the constellation Gemini is well placed from about 10 p.m. local time. IMO places the maximum around 14:00 UT on December 14 (9 a.m. EST), with a broad peak that produces high rates over roughly 10–12 hours, so both the night of December 13–14 and, to a lesser extent, December 14–15 are worth watching. Geminids are often bright and intensely colored.

Quadrantids, January 3–4, 2027. The Quadrantids can rival the Geminids, but their peak lasts only about six hours, and early January weather is often poor. The AMS says predictions for 2027 put the peak near 3:30 UT on January 4 – 10:30 p.m. EST on January 3 – a timing that favors Europe and western Asia, while North Americans see the shower rising in the hours after the peak. The Moon is a thin 16% crescent that will not interfere. Expect around 25 meteors per hour under dark skies, the AMS says.

Perseids, August 12–13, 2027. The most popular shower of the year peaks on warm summer nights, with 30–50 meteors per hour from rural locations at maximum, according to the AMS. In 2027 an 81% waxing gibbous Moon will be up for the first part of the night; the best rates come after it sets, before dawn.

Orionids, October 21–22, 2026. In a normal year the Orionids produce 10–20 meteors per hour at maximum, and the AMS notes that recent displays have produced low to average activity. This year a 76% Moon will brighten the sky for much of the night, so the hours before dawn, after moonset, are best.

Meteor shower tonight: what time should you look?

The AMS's short answer is that most meteor showers are best observed between midnight and dawn. After midnight your side of Earth faces forward in its orbit, and the radiants of most showers climb higher in the sky, so more meteors reach your part of the atmosphere. The Geminids are the main exception, with good activity from mid-evening.

Shower	Radiant near	Best local time
Orionids	Orion's raised club	After midnight until dawn
Taurids	Taurus	Late evening to early morning
Leonids	The "sickle" of Leo	After midnight until dawn
Geminids	Castor in Gemini	From about 10 p.m. through the night
Quadrantids	Northern Boötes, near the Big Dipper's handle	Pre-dawn hours
Lyrids	Near Vega in Lyra	After about 10:30 p.m., best before dawn
Eta Aquariids	Aquarius	The hour or two before dawn
Perseids	Perseus	After midnight, best before dawn

Moonlight matters as much as the clock. When the AMS calendar shows a bright Moon on peak night, look for the hours when the Moon is below the horizon – usually before moonrise for a waning Moon or after moonset for a waxing one. Our moon phases and full moon calendar shows the phase for any night.

Meteor shower tonight: where to look

You do not need to stare at the radiant – the point in the sky the meteors appear to come from. The AMS recommends looking toward a dark, clear part of the sky roughly halfway between the horizon and directly overhead, away from nearby lights and, when possible, away from the Moon. Meteors close to the radiant tend to have short trails, while those farther away trace longer paths, so a patch of sky 40 or 50 degrees away from the radiant often gives the most striking meteors.

Leave the binoculars and telescope at home. As the AMS points out, they restrict your field of view and make it harder to catch meteors appearing anywhere across the sky. The best "equipment" is a reclining lawn chair or a sleeping pad, warm clothes and a blanket.

How to watch a meteor shower: step by step

1. Check the date and the Moon. Pick the peak night or the night before or after, and note when the Moon rises or sets.
2. Check the clouds. A clear gap of two hours is worth more than a perfect peak under overcast.
3. Get away from lights. A rural park or field with a wide view of the sky can double or triple what you see compared with a suburban backyard. See where to see the northern lights for dark-sky places that work for meteors too.
4. Dress for the cold. You will be still for an hour or more; December and January nights in the northern states are often far below freezing.
5. Lie back and wait. Meteors come in clusters and lulls. Give it at least an hour.
6. Count or photograph. Counting meteors keeps you alert; a camera on a tripod with 15–30 second exposures can catch bright ones – the same setup as in how to photograph the northern lights.

Meteors, meteoroids, meteorites and fireballs

The names get mixed up constantly. The AMS defines them this way: a meteoroid is a small natural object in space, often a fragment of a comet or asteroid; a meteor is the streak of light produced when a meteoroid enters the atmosphere (a "shooting star," though no star is involved); and a meteorite is material that survives the trip and reaches the ground. Most particles in meteor showers do not survive. Many visible meteors are produced by particles ranging from the size of a grain of sand to a small pebble. A fireball is simply a very bright meteor; the Taurids of late October and November are known for producing them.

Shower	Parent body
Perseids	Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle
Leonids	Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle
Ursids	Comet 8P/Tuttle
Lyrids	Comet C/1861 G1 (Thatcher)

Leonid storms and other surprises

Showers occasionally outperform their averages. The Leonids are famous for meteor storms in 1833, 1866, 1966, 1999, 2001 and 2002, when Earth passed through dense trails of debris from comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. The AMS says Earth does not appear to encounter any dense clouds of Leonid debris until 2099, though returns of the comet in 2031 and 2064 may bring good displays with rates above 100 per hour. For 2026, IMO's calendar lists model calculations by Jérémie Vaubaillon and Mikiya Sato showing encounters with several low-density trails on November 17–19, which are expected to produce at most modest activity. The Ursids, usually 5–10 per hour, have had occasional outbursts above 25 per hour, and the Lyrids once produced a short-lived ZHR of 90, in 1982.

Meteor showers month by month

People often search for a shower in a specific month, such as "meteor shower June" or "meteor shower March." Here is what the calendars show for a typical year:

• January: Quadrantids (early January).
• February and March: no major shower; IMO lists only weak sources such as the Antihelion Source, with rates of about 2 to 3 per hour.
• April: Lyrids (around April 22).
• May: Eta Aquariids (early May), best before dawn.
• June: no major night-time shower. IMO lists the June Bootids, which are variable and usually weak, around June 22, and daytime showers such as the Arietids that are detected mainly by radio.
• July: Southern Delta Aquariids and Alpha Capricornids (late July), plus the start of the Perseids.
• August: Perseids (August 12–13).
• September: the minor September epsilon-Perseids and the start of the Southern Taurids.
• October: Draconids (around October 8–9) and Orionids (around October 21).
• November: Taurids (early to mid-November) and Leonids (mid-November).
• December: Geminids (December 13–14) and Ursids (around December 22).

The 2026 showers you may have missed

For the record, 2026 was kind to two of the big three. IMO's 2026 calendar notes that the Perseids peaked on August 13 with a New Moon on August 12, giving moon-free skies, and the Geminids in December also fall near a moon-free sky. The Quadrantids of January 3, 2026, on the other hand, peaked at Full Moon. If you missed the Perseids, the next good opportunity for a dark, high-rate shower is the Geminids on December 13–14, 2026.

Meteor showers are only one part of the night sky calendar. For the aurora, start with the northern lights forecast; for the Moon, see the full moon calendar; and for eclipses visible from the US, see our eclipse guide.

Cover photo: Bill Ingalls, Wikimedia Commons (public domain).