Meteor showers: the 2026-2027 calendar and the Moon on each night

The meteor shower calendar, November 2026 to November 2027

The Geminids don’t come from an ordinary comet but from the dust of a 5 km asteroid, 3200 Phaethon, which NASA describes as a possible ‘rock comet’ [1]. The International Meteor Organization (IMO), which publishes the observers’ reference calendar every year, rates them the best and most reliable of the major annual showers [2]. In 2026, they also fall on a night with almost no Moon.

Each shower seems to burst from one point in the sky, its radiantThe point in the sky from which all the meteors of a shower appear to come. Their paths are parallel: perspective makes them converge, like railway lines in the distance., which gives it its name: the Geminids come from Gemini, the Perseids from Perseus [3]. The table gives, for each major shower, the night to note, the time of the predicted peak and its zenithal hourly rateThe number of meteors an ideal observer would see in an hour under a perfectly dark, clear sky, with the radiant directly overhead. It is abbreviated to ZHR., or ZHR [2]. The last column matters as much as the others: moonlight washes out the faintest meteors [3], and it is often what turns a fine shower into a disappointing night.

Geminids 2026: the night of 13-14 December, under a thin crescent

They are often billed as ‘peaking on the night of 13-14 December’. The IMO calendar is more precise: the peak is expected on 14 December around 2pm UK time, in broad daylight [2]. The detail that changes everything is its width. The Geminids stay above a ZHR of 100 for 10 to 12 hours, and their best-observed peaks of the past twenty years all fell between 9pm on 13 December and 6pm on the 14th, UK time [2]. The night of 13-14 December sits right inside that window.

As for the Moon, their reputation holds. New Moon falls on 9 December [5, 7]. On the 13th, all that is left is a crescent 17% lit, which sets in London around 8pm; on the 14th, 24% lit, it goes down around 9.15pm [6]. The IMO speaks of a broad, moon-free maximum [2]. The radiant, for its part, rises around sunset and is usable from the evening onwards [2]. By our calculation for London, it culminates around 2am, about 71° above the southern horizon, and is still at 44° when dawn starts to break, around 5.55am. That makes nearly ten hours of dark, moonless night.

The Geminids travel at 35 km/s, a fairly moderate speed: the IMO puts the average at around 40 km/s, on a scale running from 11 to 72 km/s [2]. They are known for bright meteors and fireballsExceptionally bright meteors., and the share of bright Geminids often rises towards the end of the peak [2]: the evening of the 14th, once the Moon has set around 9.15pm, is worth a look too. Under dark skies, NASA suggests counting on 40 to 50 Geminids an hour, up to 120 in perfect conditions [1].

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Leonids and Ursids: the other two dates for late 2026

Before the Geminids, the Leonids open the season on the night of 17-18 November 2026. Their peak is expected around 11.45pm, with a modest ZHR of about 15 [2]. The Moon, at first quarter, sets in London around 11.30pm [6], barely an hour after the radiant rises in Leo. The rest of the night is therefore moon-free, and the radiant climbs to nearly 60° before dawn, by our calculation. The Leonids are among the fastest meteors, at 71 km/s [2].

The Ursids, for their part, peak on 22 December around 10pm, with a ZHR of about 10 [2]. Their radiant, near the Little Bear, never sets as seen from the UK, but the Moon, 96% lit, is up all night [2, 6]. The IMO rates the chances of good observations as slim [2].

Winter and spring 2027: perfect Quadrantids, Lyrids drowned in moonlight

Quadrantids: 4 January, around 3.25am

The Quadrantids have a very short peak, lasting just a few hours, and fine fireballs, according to NASA [10]. In 2027, that peak falls at the best possible time for Europe: 4 January around 3.25am UK time, in the middle of the night, give or take about 2.5 hours, with a ZHR of 80 that can range from 60 to 200 from one year to the next [4]. The Moon, a thin crescent 10% lit, doesn’t rise until around 5.45am [6], and the IMO calls the conditions perfect [4]. Their radiant, in Boötes, never sets as seen from the UK: it stays low in the evening and climbs to about 45° at the time of the peak, by our calculation. Their source, the asteroid 2003 EH1, may be, like Phaethon, an extinct or ‘rock’ comet [10].

Lyrids: 23 April, but under the Moon

The Lyrids peak on 23 April 2027 around 2.40am BST, with a ZHR of about 18 [4]. They sometimes spring a surprise: in 1982, a brief outburst reached a ZHR of 90 [2]. In 2027, though, the peak comes just after the full Moon of 20 April [5], and the IMO gives it the worst observing conditions in its 2027 calendar [4]. In London, the Moon, over 90% lit, rises around 10.45pm and stays in the sky until morning [6].

Eta Aquariids: no Moon, but too low for the UK

Offspring of Halley’s comet, like the October Orionids [11], the Eta Aquariids peak on 6 May 2027 around 10am BST, with a ZHR of about 50, closer to 40 in recent years [4]. New Moon falls the same day [5]. Sadly, their radiant only rises at the very end of the night, and the IMO places useful observations south of about 40° north, roughly the latitude of Madrid [4]. By our calculation, from London it is barely clearing the horizon when the sky begins to pale, around 2.45am. As for Halley’s comet itself, it won’t be back before 2061 [11].

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Summer and autumn 2027: Perseids under the Moon, Leonids worth watching

Perseids: the night of 12-13 August, after 1.15am

The Perseids, born of comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, which takes 133 years to complete its orbit [12], remain the great shower of the summer. For 2027, the IMO expects a peak on 13 August between 9am and 11am BST, in daylight, but their traditional maximum is broad: it has ranged from 4am to 5pm BST, depending on the year [4]. Activity could also be a little stronger than usual: this year the Earth passes through a part of the dust cloud that Jupiter has nudged closer to its orbit, which could lift the ZHR by 10 to 20%, to around 110 to 120 [4].

The catch is the Moon. On 12 August, it is gibbous, over 80% lit, and doesn’t set in London until around 1.15am [6]. The IMO warns that the moon-free period will be short [4]: by our calculation, that leaves about two hours of dark sky before dawn, with the radiant already high, between 45 and 60° up. That is the window to aim for. Models cited by the IMO also mention an encounter with old dust trails around 12.45am that night, of very uncertain strength [4]. Other calculations cited by the IMO point instead to the end of the night, around 3am to 3.15am, just as dawn begins in London: at best a slight boost [4]. The following night, the Moon sets later still, around 2.15am [6].

A quirk of the calendar: this August’s new Moon is the one that brings the total solar eclipse of 2 August 2027 [7], ten days too early for the Perseids.

Orionids: around 22 October, with a waning Moon

A second date with Halley’s dust, the Orionids peak around 22 October, over about a day, with a ZHR of 20 and fast meteors, at 66 km/s [4]. In 2027, the waning Moon, about half lit, rises in London between 10pm and 11.30pm [6], and the IMO notes that it lights up the sky while the radiant is above the horizon [4].

Leonids: possible outbursts, under the Moon

The regular Leonid peak in 2027 is expected on 18 November around 6am, at dawn [4]. Models cited by the IMO consider two bursts with a ZHR of 40 to 50: on the 17th around 10pm, before the radiant has risen in the UK, and on the 20th around 4.20am, with the radiant high in the sky [4]. This second burst would come from a very old dust trail, and one of the authors of the calculation considers its details really uncertain [4]. On those nights, a gibbous Moon, between about 55 and 85% lit, fills the sky [6].

What you’ll really see: the ZHR is a ceiling

A ZHR of 150 doesn’t promise 150 meteors an hour. It is a rate calculated for an ideal observer under a perfect sky, with a limiting magnitudeThe brightness of the faintest stars visible to the naked eye. A value of 6.5 means a very dark sky; the lower the figure, the fewer stars you can see. of 6.5 and the radiant directly overhead [2]. The American Meteor Society puts it bluntly: it is a guide, not a promise, and the number actually seen is almost always lower [3].

First culprit: the height of the radiant. For a shower with a ZHR of 100, the IMO gives what you can hope to see in an hour under a perfect sky:

That is why the time of night matters so much. The Société astronomique de France illustrates it with the Perseids: for the same activity, you see 10 to 15 an hour early in the night, when Perseus is low, against 60 to 80 late in the night [14]. In Germany, the Arbeitskreis Meteore restates the basic rule: a shower’s meteors can only be seen if its radiant is above the horizon, and most radiants are only well placed after midnight [15]. The Geminids are the exception, with a radiant usable from the evening [2].

Second culprit: light. The Moon, street lighting, twilight or haze cost you a good share of the faintest meteors [13, 15]. Third: impatience. Even during the major showers, 5 can fall in a minute, then nothing for 5 minutes; the IMO advises watching for at least an hour to get to know both [16].

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Where and how to look: darkness, time, and your eyes halfway up

Good news: you don’t need any instrument. Binoculars and telescopes narrow your field of view, whereas meteors appear anywhere in the sky [3]. Keep your binoculars for birds or the Moon, and give your eyes the whole sky.

What matters most is darkness. According to the world atlas of light pollution published in 2016, 77% of people in the UK live under a sky too bright to see the Milky Way, although that sky covers only about 14% of the country; in Ireland, it is 45% of the population [17]. The glow clusters around towns and cities, so getting away from them is often enough. In England, the countryside charity CPRE publishes a map of light pollution and dark skies to help you choose [18]. Further afield, dark sky reserves and parks protect exceptional skies, such as Exmoor, Europe’s first International Dark Sky Reserve, in 2011 [19], or Galloway Forest Park, in Scotland, one of the first International Dark Sky Parks in the world, in 2009 [20].

Then give your eyes time to adjust to the dark: at least 20 minutes after a lit room, according to the IMO, 20 to 30 minutes according to the AMS, which adds that full adaptation takes longer and that phone screens are best avoided [13, 3]. To find the flask, a head torch on a dim red light, used briefly, does the job [3]. These are the same habits as for watching for the northern lights.

All that is left is knowing where to look. Lying down or in a reclining chair, aim at a clear patch of sky halfway between the horizon and the zenith, away from lights and the Moon [3]. There is no point staring at the radiant: meteors near it leave short trails, which grow longer the further away they are [3]. IMO observers centre their field of view between 50 and 70° up, 20 to 40° from the radiant [13].

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On 13 December, check the forecast from the afternoon. If the sky clears, set off before the Moon goes down, turn your back on the town lights, let your eyes adjust to the dark, then wait. The first Geminid has a knack of slipping past while you are looking the other way: the second, you will be waiting for with your eyes wide open.

Worth watching

EarthSky, the long-running astronomy news site, sums up its tips for watching a meteor shower in three minutes: a practical companion to the calendar and to our section on where and how to look.

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Nolwenn Bastide

Trail running, snow, water, nature and destinations

Nolwenn covers trail running, snow, water, nature and destinations for Outfarer. Curious about everything, from meteor showers to night-train timetables, she has a knack for unearthing the one detail that changes everything, and putting it in a single sentence.

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