Meteor Shower Calendar: When to See Shooting Stars

The major annual meteor showers, when they peak, how many meteors to expect, and how not to mistake a fireball for a UFO.

Shower	Active	Peak	Rate at best	Parent body
Quadrantids	28 Dec – 12 Jan	3–4 January	up to ~110 per hour	Asteroid 2003 EH1
Lyrids	14 – 30 April	22 April	~18 per hour	Comet Thatcher (C/1861 G1)
Eta Aquariids	19 April – 28 May	6 May	~50 per hour	Halley’s Comet
Perseids	17 July – 24 August	12 August	~100 per hour	Comet Swift–Tuttle
Draconids	6 – 10 October	8 October	usually a few per hour	Comet Giacobini–Zinner
Orionids	2 October – 7 November	21 October	~20 per hour	Halley’s Comet
Leonids	6 – 30 November	17 November	~15 per hour	Comet Tempel–Tuttle
Geminids	4 – 20 December	14 December	up to ~150 per hour	Asteroid 3200 Phaethon

Peak dates shift by a day or so from year to year.