Meteor showers
Meteor showers happen when Earth passes through the trail of dust left by a comet, and they return on the same dates every year. Here are the best ones to watch, and how to see them.
The full deep dive
What a shooting star is
A meteor, or shooting star, is a speck of dust, often no bigger than a grain of sand, burning up as it hits our atmosphere at tens of kilometres per second. When Earth passes through a stream of dust left behind by a comet, we see many meteors that all seem to come from one point in the sky, called the radiant. The shower is named after the constellation where the radiant lies.
The best showers of the year
| Shower | Peak | At best |
|---|---|---|
| Quadrantids | about 3-4 January | up to 100 an hour, but a short peak |
| Lyrids | about 22 April | around 18 an hour |
| Eta Aquariids | about 5-6 May | best from the southern hemisphere |
| Perseids | about 12-13 August | up to 100 an hour, warm summer nights |
| Orionids | about 21 October | around 20 an hour, from Halley’s Comet |
| Leonids | about 17 November | around 15 an hour, occasional storms |
| Geminids | about 13-14 December | up to 120 an hour, the year’s best |
Rates are for a perfectly dark sky; from a town you will see fewer. A bright Moon can wash out all but the brightest meteors.
How to watch
- Find somewhere dark, away from street lights.
- Give your eyes 20 minutes to adjust, and don’t look at your phone.
- Lie back and look at a wide area of sky, not just the radiant.
- After midnight is usually best.
- No telescope needed: just your eyes, a blanket and patience.