☄️ The Perseids meteor shower

The most watched shower of the year, on warm summer nights in the north. Active from 17 July to 24 August.

The next peak · in 287 days

13 August 2027 at 08:09 UTC

Up to 100 meteors an hour under a dark sky. The Moon is 86% lit that night. Bright moonlight hides all but the brightest meteors.

The best hours are usually after midnight and before dawn, on the night of the peak and the night before.

The next few years

12 August 2028 at 14:18 UTCMoon 59% lit · Some moonlight, so fewer faint meteors.
12 August 2029 at 20:27 UTCMoon 10% lit · A dark sky: a good year to watch.
13 August 2030 at 02:36 UTCMoon 100% lit · Bright moonlight hides all but the brightest meteors.

At its peak: Up to 100 meteors an hour under a dark sky
Active: 17 July to 24 August
Seems to come from: Perseus
Where to see it: Best from the northern half of Earth
Made by: Dust from Comet Swift–Tuttle

How to watch

Get away from city lights if you can, and give your eyes 20 minutes to get used to the dark. Don’t look at your phone.
Lie back and look at a wide stretch of sky. Meteors appear anywhere, though their trails point back to Perseus.
No telescope or binoculars: they show too little of the sky. Your eyes are best.
“Up to 100 an hour” is for a perfectly dark sky. From a town, expect a fraction of that.

Other meteor showers

All of them

Quadrantids Lyrids Eta Aquariids Orionids Leonids Geminids Ursids

Peak dates from the International Meteor Organization’s list of showers, worked out for each year; the Moon worked out with Astronomy Engine. Times are UTC until the page has loaded, then your own time zone.