Oslo, Norway
No major shower is active — the next one, the Perseids, peaks in 31 days.
No major shower active
Sporadic meteors always deliver 5–10 per hour under a dark sky. The next major shower to plan around is the Perseids on Aug 12.
- Featured
- Perseids
- Peaks in
- 31 d
- ZHR
- 100
- Moon
- 11%
Should you go out for meteors tonight?
No major shower is active tonight. Under a dark sky you'll still see 5–10 sporadic meteors per hour. The next major event is the Perseids in 31 days.
- Shower
- None active
- Est. rate
- 5–10/hr
- Moon
- 11%
- Clouds
- —
Signature
Tonight at a glance
Live for Oslo, Norway · effective rate estimate combines ZHR, Moon phase and cloud cover.
Practical
How to watch a meteor shower
Meteor showers happen when Earth crosses debris left behind by a comet (or, in the case of the Geminids, an asteroid). The dust grains — most no bigger than a grain of rice — hit the atmosphere at 30–70 km/s and burn up 80–100 km overhead. What you see is the ionised air trail, not the grain itself.
The single biggest lever on how many meteors you see is sky darkness. A Bortle-3 site shows roughly four times as many meteors as a suburban Bortle-6 backyard. The second lever is Moon phase: a full Moon can cut observed rates by more than half. The third is radiant altitude — showers deliver their advertised rate only when the radiant is high in your sky, which is why post-midnight is almost always better.
- Pick the darkest sky you can reach — every extra magnitude of darkness roughly doubles what you see.
- Arrive 20 minutes before peak so your eyes fully adapt to the dark.
- Lie flat on a reclining chair or ground mat so you can watch the whole sky without neck strain.
- Aim your gaze about 45° away from the radiant, roughly toward the zenith.
- Dress warmer than you think — you'll be still for a long time.
- Give it at least an hour before deciding whether it's worth it.
Sporadic meteors — background debris not associated with any shower — add roughly 5–10 meteors per hour on any given night, more toward dawn. Even on a "no shower" night, an hour under a dark sky is rarely empty. Cross-check the Moon page for tonight's illumination, and the Milky Way page for a sense of how dark your sky can get.
Annual calendar
The seven major showers of the year
In date order, with peak, ZHR, parent body and radiant. Bookmark this table — it decides your calendar for the year.
| Shower | Peak | ZHR | Parent | Radiant | Best from |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quadrantids | 01-03 | 110 | Asteroid 2003 EH1 | Boötes (RA 15h 20m · Dec +49°) | Northern |
| Lyrids | 04-22 | 18 | Comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher | Lyra (RA 18h 08m · Dec +32°) | Northern |
| Eta Aquariids | 05-06 | 50 | Comet 1P/Halley | Aquarius (RA 22h 24m · Dec −1°) | Southern tropics best |
| Perseids | 08-12 | 100 | Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle | Perseus (RA 03h 12m · Dec +58°) | Northern |
| Orionids | 10-21 | 20 | Comet 1P/Halley | Orion (RA 06h 20m · Dec +16°) | Both |
| Leonids | 11-17 | 15 | Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle | Leo (RA 10h 12m · Dec +22°) | Both |
| Geminids | 12-14 | 120 | Asteroid 3200 Phaethon | Gemini (RA 07h 28m · Dec +33°) | Both |
Peak-night Moon
Which showers land under a dark Moon this year
A shower's rated ZHR assumes a moonless sky. This table shows the Moon phase and illumination at each upcoming peak, plus the practical impact on how many meteors you'll actually see.
| Shower | Peak | Moon phase | Illumination | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quadrantids | Jan 3 2027 | Waning Crescent | 20% | low |
| Lyrids | Apr 22 2027 | Full Moon | 99% | high |
| Eta Aquariids | May 6 2027 | New Moon | 0% | low |
| Perseids | Aug 12 2026 | New Moon | 1% | low |
| Orionids | Oct 21 2026 | Waxing Gibbous | 72% | high |
| Leonids | Nov 17 2026 | First Quarter | 45% | moderate |
| Geminids | Dec 14 2026 | Waxing Crescent | 21% | low |