The IAU working list of visual meteor showers — what's active right now, and the full year ahead.
Meteors are best viewed during the night, though they can enter the atmosphere at any time of day — just harder to see except around dawn and dusk. Nearby ambient light and moonlight can make viewing difficult; showers are best seen away from city lights, looking roughly halfway up the sky rather than directly at the radiant.
Data from the International Meteor Organization working list of visual meteor showers.
All showers, sorted by peak date. Highlighted rows are active today.
| Shower | Active | Peak | ZHR | Velocity |
|---|
ZHR (Zenith Hourly Rate) is the theoretical number of meteors an observer would see per hour under a perfectly dark sky with the radiant directly overhead — real counts are usually lower. Velocity is the speed meteors enter the atmosphere at, in km/s; faster showers tend to produce brighter, more persistent trails.
Meteor scatter communications can be used by VHF enthusiasts and commercial operators alike, using specialised techniques to reach distances of 2000km or more on VHF frequencies — activity is best during a shower's peak, when ionised meteor trails are most numerous.