Annual meteor showers

Peak dates recur each year within a day or two. ZHR is the zenithal hourly rate — what a single observer would see at peak, under a perfectly dark sky, with the radiant overhead.

How to read this table

Peak is the date the shower reaches maximum activity. Showers are active for days or weeks around the peak — most have a slow ramp-up and a steep drop-off.

ZHR is the zenithal hourly rate: meteors a single observer would see in one hour under ideal conditions (radiant directly overhead, sky dark enough to show 6.5-magnitude stars). In real life with light pollution and the radiant lower in the sky, you will see far fewer.

Speed determines what the meteors look like. Fast meteors (above 50 km/s) tend to be bright and leave persistent trains. Slow meteors are dimmer but easier to track.

Parent is the comet or asteroid whose debris stream Earth crosses. Each year the orbit brings us through the same lane of dust at the same time.

What you actually see

From a dark site (Bortle 3 or better) you can expect roughly 30-50% of the listed ZHR. From a suburb (Bortle 6-7) drop that by another half. Moonlight matters too — a bright Moon near the peak will hide all but the brightest meteors.

The hours after midnight are always better: that is when Earth's rotation puts you on the leading edge moving into the meteor stream. Mornings of the peak date and the day after are usually the best window.

For each shower