Meteor Shower Calendar
Every major shower, its exact peak for your spot, and whether the moon will ruin it.
Showers for
How to read it
Peak is the instant Earth crosses the densest part of the debris stream — fixed by solar longitude, so it shifts about six hours later each year. ZHR is the idealised hourly rate with the radiant overhead under a perfectly dark sky; what you actually see scales with the sine of the radiant's altitude and drops sharply under moonlight. Best hours are when the sky is dark (sun below −12°), the radiant is at least 20° up, and the moon is below the horizon. Moon blends its illumination with how much of the dark night it spends above your horizon.
FAQ
- Why is the best window usually after midnight?
- After midnight you're on the leading side of Earth, facing into the stream — more meteors, and most radiants are higher then. The Draconids are the exception: an evening shower.
- Which camera settings?
- Wide lens, aperture wide open, ISO 1600–6400, and the longest exposure that keeps stars sharp — the star photography calculator gives that number for your sensor. Then shoot continuously for hours and stack the frames with meteors.
- Where do I point?
- Not at the radiant — meteors there are short. Aim 40–60° away from it, where trails are long, with the radiant off one edge of the frame.