Meteor Showers

Lyrids meteor shower is an average shower, offering about 20 shooting stars an hour at the peak

This above-average meteor shower runs from April 19-May 28. The best place to see it is in the Southern Hemisphere, where it produces about 60 meteors an hour, but it’s a decent show in the Northern Hemisphere, too, and viewers in this part of the world can expect to see about half that many

This shower runs from July 12-Aug. 2 and produces about 20 meteors an hour at the peak. A new moon means dark skies, so viewing conditions should be excellent for this shower, which is produced by debris left behind by the comets Marsden and Kracht.

Famous for producing a large number of fireballs, the Perseids meteor shower is regarded as one of the best of the year. The shower runs July 17-Aug. 24 and produces up to 60 shooting stars an hour at the peak. The shower, discovered in 1862, is produced by the comet 109/P Swift-Tuttle. A nearly full […]

This is the one meteor shower of the year that is best viewed in the early evening hours. A minor meteor shower that runs Oct. 6-10, it produces about 10 shooting stars an hour. The first-quarter moon will blot out all but the brightest meteors from this shower, created by comet 21P Giacobini-Zinner.

Comet Haley is the parent of this meteor shower, which produces about 20 shooting stars an hour at its peak. The shower runs from Oct. 2-Nov. 7. The thin, crescent moon will leave mostly dark skies during the peak.

What makes this long-running meteor shower unique is that it consists of two separate streams — the first created by grain dust left behind by Asteroid 2004/TG10, and the second by dust grains left behind by Comet 2P/Encke. It runs Sept. 7-Dec. 10. A nearly full moon at the peak will make viewing difficult.

The Leonids meteor shower runs Nov. 6-30 and puts on an average show of about 15 meteors an hour — except during cyclonic peaks that occur about every 33 years, when hundreds of meteors an hour can be seen. It happened last in 2001, putting us years away from a similar show from this shower […]

Meteor experts say the Geminid meteor shower is hands-down the best in the heavens, producing 120 multicolored meteors at the peak. Produced by debris left behind by the asteroid 3200 Phaethon discovered in 1982, it runs from Dec. 7-17. Moonlight will wash out some of the faintest meteors, but the Geminids are so bright and prolific […]

This minor meteor shower runs Dec. 17-25 and offers about five or 10 an hour. It is produced by dust grains left behind by comet 8P/Tuttle, discovered in 1790. A nearly new moon will mean dark skies to view what could be a good shooting show, and the last one of 2022