Sky calendar

Book the nights
that matter.

Meteor shower dates are easy to find. What nobody tells you is whether the moon will be sitting in the sky ruining it. This calendar calculates the moon phase on every peak night, then gives you the dark windows to plan everything else around.

Sat, Jan 3Dec 28 to Jan 12

Quadrantids

A famously sharp peak, only a few hours wide. Miss the window and you get a normal night sky.

Peak rate: 120/hr
Radiant: Boötes
Parent: Asteroid 2003 EH1
Favours: Northern favoured

100%Washed outFull moon at peak

Wed, Apr 22Apr 14 to Apr 30

Lyrids

Modest rates but the radiant climbs high after midnight, and occasional outbursts have been recorded.

Peak rate: 18/hr
Radiant: Lyra
Parent: Comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher
Favours: Northern favoured

29%Partial moonWaxing crescent at peak

Tue, May 5Apr 19 to May 28

Eta Aquariids

Fast meteors with long trains. Much better from the southern hemisphere, where the radiant rises earlier.

Peak rate: 50/hr
Radiant: Aquarius
Parent: Comet 1P/Halley
Favours: Southern favoured

90%Washed outWaning gibbous at peak

Thu, Jul 30Jul 12 to Aug 23

Southern Delta Aquariids

A broad, low plateau rather than a spike, and it overlaps the early Perseids.

Peak rate: 25/hr
Radiant: Aquarius
Parent: Comet 96P/Machholz
Favours: Southern favoured

100%Washed outFull moon at peak

Wed, Aug 12Jul 17 to Aug 24

Perseids

The one most people plan a trip around. Warm nights, high rates and a radiant that never sets from mid-northern latitudes.

Peak rate: 100/hr
Radiant: Perseus
Parent: Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle
Favours: Northern favoured

0%DarkNew moon at peak

Thu, Oct 8Oct 6 to Oct 10

Draconids

Best in the early evening rather than after midnight, which is unusual. Rates are normally low but storms have happened.

Peak rate: 10/hr
Radiant: Draco
Parent: Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner
Favours: Northern favoured

7%DarkWaning crescent at peak

Wed, Oct 21Oct 2 to Nov 7

Orionids

The second shower from Halley's dust. Rates are moderate but the meteors are quick and bright.

Peak rate: 20/hr
Radiant: Orion
Parent: Comet 1P/Halley
Favours: Both

73%Washed outWaxing gibbous at peak

Wed, Nov 4Sep 20 to Nov 20

Southern Taurids

Low rates, but the Taurids produce a high proportion of genuine fireballs. Worth a wide lens on a long timelapse.

Peak rate: 5/hr
Radiant: Taurus
Parent: Comet 2P/Encke
Favours: Both

26%Partial moonWaning crescent at peak

Wed, Nov 11Oct 20 to Dec 10

Northern Taurids

The northern branch of the same stream. Combined with the southern branch it gives a long fireball season.

Peak rate: 5/hr
Radiant: Taurus
Parent: Comet 2P/Encke
Favours: Both

3%DarkWaxing crescent at peak

Mon, Nov 16Nov 6 to Nov 30

Leonids

Ordinary most years, historic every thirty-three when the parent comet returns. The next storm window is not soon.

Peak rate: 15/hr
Radiant: Leo
Parent: Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle
Favours: Both

37%Partial moonWaxing crescent at peak

Sun, Dec 13Dec 4 to Dec 17

Geminids

The most reliable shower of the year and the highest rate. Also the coldest, which is the part nobody mentions.

Peak rate: 150/hr
Radiant: Gemini
Parent: Asteroid 3200 Phaethon
Favours: Both

15%DarkWaxing crescent at peak

Mon, Dec 21Dec 17 to Dec 26

Ursids

Quiet, circumpolar and easy to ignore right after the Geminids. Occasionally produces a short outburst.

Peak rate: 10/hr
Radiant: Ursa Minor
Parent: Comet 8P/Tuttle
Favours: Northern favoured

88%Washed outWaxing gibbous at peak

Peak dates use the published nominal maxima and shift by up to a day between years. Zenithal hourly rate assumes a perfectly dark sky with the radiant overhead, which never happens, so expect meaningfully fewer meteors than the headline number.

Aurora

The one event you
cannot schedule.

Aurora forecasting works in hours, not months. The Kp index runs 0 to 9 and maps onto the NOAA G-scale for storms. Higher numbers push the auroral oval further from the poles.

Live NOAA forecast ↗

Kp 3Quiet to unsettled

Auroral oval only: Alaska, northern Canada, Iceland, northern Scandinavia

Normal background activity. Worth shooting if you already live under the oval.

Kp 4Active

Northern tier of the lower 48, southern Canada, Scotland

Camera-visible glow on the northern horizon. Often invisible to the naked eye.

Kp 5G1 minor storm

Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, the Dakotas, northern UK

The first level worth driving for at mid-latitudes. Watch the Bz component, not just Kp.

Kp 6G2 moderate storm

New York, Idaho, Iowa, central Europe

Structured arcs become likely rather than possible. Overhead colour still needs luck.

Kp 7G3 strong storm

Pennsylvania, Oregon, northern California, southern Europe

Naked-eye colour at mid-latitudes. This is when people who never shoot aurora suddenly do.

Kp 8G4 severe storm

Southern United States, Mediterranean

Rare. Overhead corona is possible far from the poles.

Kp 9G5 extreme storm

Texas, the Gulf Coast, northern Africa

A handful of times per solar cycle. Drop everything.

Kp is a three-hour planetary average, which means it is always slightly behind reality. Watch the interplanetary magnetic field Bz component alongside it: a strongly southward Bz with a modest Kp often produces a better display than a high Kp with Bz pointing north.

How to actually use this

Work backward from the moon.

01
Find the dark windows first
Mark the ten-night stretch around each new moon. Everything faint has to happen in one of those, and there are only twelve of them a year.
02
Overlay the fixed events
Meteor peaks and eclipses do not move. If one lands in a dark window, that is your priority night of the season. If it lands on a full moon, adjust expectations rather than the plan.
03
Put the moonlit weeks to work
Bright weeks are for narrowband emission targets, lunar imaging, planetary work, moonlit landscapes and catching up on processing. They are not wasted, they are just a different job.
04
Decide the fallback before you leave
Every trip should have a primary frame and a simpler one that still works if cloud, wind or a failed mount takes the ambitious version away.

Sources

Where these dates come from.

American Meteor Society: Meteor Shower Calendar ↗Activity windows, maxima and expected rates for the major annual showers.
International Meteor Organization: Meteor Shower Calendar ↗The annual technical calendar, including solar-longitude maxima and moon interference.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center: Five Millennium Catalog of Eclipses ↗Canonical eclipse circumstances, paths and timings.
NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center: Planetary K-index and the G-scale ↗Official geomagnetic activity index and storm scale used for aurora forecasting.