Picture it: A slash of vivid green light splits the starry sky. There for a moment and then gone, leaving nothing but a short-lived glowing trail and a moment of pure joy. You've finally caught it, your first Perseid shooting star of the season.

What you saw was the final moment of a story billions of miles and thousands of years in the making. A story that began with that same shooting star locked inside the icy body of the wandering comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle.

The 16-mile-wide (26 kilometer) giant of a comet spends its life journeying back and forth between the outer and inner solar system, where its frigid body is heated by the sun, triggering dramatic outbursts of activity. While in close proximity to our star, ice near to the surface of the comet is transformed into gas, skipping the water stage entirely as it escapes out into the vastness of interplanetary space.

Embedded within that ice was once a micrometeoroid no larger than a grain of sand, destined to become the Perseid shooting star you saw.

The violence of the newborn micrometeoroid's exile was followed by an epoch of utter silence, as its orbit was subtly influenced by the unseen forces of the solar system. It would be easy to think of this as a lonely existence, but we'd be wrong.

Our cosmic pebble was joined by millions of others, all shed in the wake of Swift-Tuttle. A great stream of primordial material that threads through the inner solar system, crossing the path of Earth before extending in a great swarm that messily traces the elliptical orbit of their comet progenitor, below the plane of the solar system. Beyond the orbit of Pluto.

Each follows its own unique path. Trajectories are shaped by the force of a micrometeoroid's expulsion from the comet's nucleus, along with the gentle push of radiation from the sun and the gravitational tug of the planets.

It's impossible to know how long our shooting star drifted through the cold expanse of interplanetary space. Was it hundreds or many thousands of years? How many times might it have journeyed around the sun before its fateful rendezvous with our Blue Marble?

We can never know. What we do know is how its journey ended.

Civilizations could have risen to their zenith and crumbled in the time our micrometeoroid spent traversing the unfeeling expanse of interplanetary space, but its demise lasted but a fraction of a second. It collided with our planet's gaseous shell at 132,000 miles per hour (212,433 kmph), cutting a brilliant green trail through the summer sky as atmospheric friction vaporized the cometary shard.

It's that fiery demise that you spotted tonight — an experience that will repeat hundreds of times each and every hour at the height of the Perseid meteor shower, as Earth passes through the densest part of the debris stream cast off by comet Swift-Tuttle.

The Perseid meteor shower is active from now until Aug. 24, with the best viewing window occurring in the early hours of Aug. 13, as the shower's radiant rises to its highest point on the night of the shower's peak.

This year's peak will be particularly spectacular, unfolding as it does in the pristinely dark skies surrounding the Aug. 12 new moon, which will also cause a spectacular total solar eclipse to be visible across parts of Spain, Iceland and Greenland. If you find yourself in the path of totality and have luck on your side, then you might just spot a Perseid fireball brightening the false twilight that falls as the moon hides the face of the sun at the crescendo of the eclipse!

Want to capture a shooting star that will stay with you forever? Then be sure to read our guide to photographing fast-moving meteors, along with our roundups of the best cameras and lenses for astrophotography if you're looking to upgrade your gear.

Editor's Note: Did you catch a photo of a Perseid shooting star and want to share it with Space.com's readers? Then please go ahead and send your photos along with your comments, name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

The Perseids may be the summer meteor shower everyone marks on the calendar, but they are not the only reason to look up this season.

From mid-July through late August, Earth plows through several other streams of comet and asteroid debris, triggering a series of lesser-known meteor showers across Northern Hemisphere skies.

Most will not deliver the dazzling hourly rates of the Perseids, and moonlight will spoil some peak nights in 2026. But for patient skywatchers under dark skies, these lesser-known showers can still serve up bright fireballs, faint streaks and a preview of the main event to come.

The duration in days of a shower we provide here is somewhat arbitrary, since the beginning and ending are gradual and indefinite. While the hourly rates from these other meteor streams provide but a fraction of the numbers produced by the Perseids, combined, overall, they provide a wide variety of meteors of differing colors, speeds and trajectories.

Capricornids

First to appear are the Capricornids, starting around July 10, with their maximum on July 25 and end on Aug. 15. Under the best conditions only a few bright meteors per hour come from this stream, so you'll hardly know it is in progress unless you plot meteor trails on a star map and trace them back to their common intersection point; most of the meteors you'll see will be sporadics or members of another shower.

The radiant reaches its highest point at about 30 degrees high in the south, about 2:00 a.m. local daylight time. The waxing gibbous moon will have set at around 1:40 a.m. on the night of the peak, leaving the rest of the night dark for prospective meteor watchers.

Delta Aquarids

Next come the Delta Aquarids, July's most prolific shower, with maximum on July 29, and as many as two or three dozen meteors per hour under ideal conditions. The shower lasts from July 12 to Aug. 23. It has a double radiant, indicating that we are seeing two distinct streams of celestial debris burning up in the Earth's atmosphere.

The meteors are mostly faint; a few bright, 5-10% leave persistent trains; they move at medium-slow speeds because they are coming in sideways across Earth's orbit. On peak night this year, the double radiant will be highest — roughly 40 degrees above the southern horizon — at 3:30 a.m. Unfortunately, in 2026, peak activity will coincide with full moon, so most of these streaks will likely be squelched by bright moonlight.

Piscis Australids

Another weak shower is the Piscis Australids, on July 30, with normal limits July 10 to Aug. 10. This is a lesser stream; only about eight members per hour are seen under best conditions to observers in the Southern Hemisphere, where the radiant — near the bright star Fomalhaut — climbs high in the sky.

As is the case with the Delta Aquarids, the moon, only one day past full, unfortunately, wrecks any chances of getting any decent views this year.

Alpha Capricornids

The final shower peaking in July is the Alpha Capricornids, which begin about July 7, peak on July 31, and end on Aug. 15. The radiant reaches its highest point, about 30 degrees high in the south at about 1:00 a.m. local daylight time. Though sparse (5 per hour) in number, the Alpha Capricornids are photogenic, frequently producing bright yellow fireballs that can be quite spectacular. Sadly, the bright moon, 93% illuminated, is in eastern Capricornus and will seriously impact the peak of this year's display.

Iota Aquarids

The last minor shower before the Perseids is the Iota Aquarids, a two-radiant shower having detectable members from July 15 to Aug. 25. At peak activity on Aug. 6, only about six members per hour are seen under good conditions; the radiants are at their highest point, about 40 degrees in the south at 2:30 a.m. A last quarter moon will be about one-third up in the eastern sky at that hour, which will interfere to an extent with viewing these meteors.

Perseids

The Perseids are predicted to reach their peak in 2026 on the morning of Aug. 13. Meteors whose paths extended backward intersect at a spot near the Perseid-Cassiopeia border not far from the famous Double Cluster in Perseus.

It rises at dusk and is highest in the sky — nearly overhead — at 5:40 a.m. When maximum occurs in a dark sky, as will be the case this year, this rich stream offers a crescendo in hourly rates averaging more than 50 members per hour, though double this rate has been seen on occasion. Many flaring meteors with trains are seen. This shower normally extends from July 17 through Aug. 24.

Kappa Cygnids

The last summer shower is the Kappa Cygnids. The limits of this shower run from Aug. 3 to Aug. 25, with the peak on Aug. 17. Though the maximum rate is only about four per hour, the stream does provide slow-moving flaring fireballs, and a careful observer may be nicely rewarded for the time spent.

The radiant is just north of the star Kappa Cygni and is nearly overhead — some 80 degrees high — at around 10:00 p.m. local time. At about that same time, a waxing crescent moon is low in the southwest and is about to set and will offer little viewing interference.

Where to look

The radiant is the place in the sky where the paths of shower members, if extended backward, would intersect when plotted on a star chart. Many people are misled into thinking that this is the best place to look for these meteors, but only stationary meteors — ones coming nearly straight at you — can be seen here.

The greatest numbers will be seen perhaps 30 degrees away from the radiant, in the general direction of the zenith. Remember that your clenched fist held at arm's length is roughly equal to 10 degrees.

In addition to shower meteors, there are always sporadic ones, apparently unrelated to one another, that occur at an average rate of about 7 per hour. The duration in days of a particular shower is somewhat arbitrary, since the beginning and ending are gradual and indefinite.

Skywatching tips

The only equipment you'll need is your eyes and a modest amount of patience.

The number of meteors an observer can see in an hour depends strongly on sky conditions. The rates quoted here are based on a limiting star magnitude of +6.5 (an exceptionally good, dark sky), an experienced observer, and the assumption that the radiant is directly overhead.

The lower the radiant in the sky, the fewer the numbers that will be seen. At an altitude of about 30 degrees, the hourly rate is halved, at 15 degrees it is one-third. No two observers prepare for a meteor vigil the same way.

Expect the overnight low temperature to be well below what the weather forecast suggests. When you sit quite still, close to the rapidly cooling ground, and if the air is even just slightly damp, you can become very chilled. It helps to take a late afternoon nap, followed by a shower, and to wear fresh clothing. Heavy blankets, sleeping bags, a ground cloth, an auto cushion, and a pillow are all necessary equipment. Some food and non-alcoholic beverages will help keep you comfortable.

Don't forget the moon

Another factor is the phase of the moon, which this year will be full on July 29 and new on Aug. 12. This makes it a very favorable year for viewing the Perseids, but not so favorable for those displays peaking at the end of July into early August. However, most are also active for a good number of days before and after maximum activity, so you can also watch for them when moonlight is not a hindrance.

Are these meteor showers worth watching?

In short, minor summer meteor showers are worth watching if you enjoy patient, low-key skywatching, but they are not ideal if you expect a dramatic display.

They offer a long observing season, require no equipment, and can produce a variety of meteors with different colors, speeds, paths, and occasionally bright fireballs. They also give observers more chances to watch when skies are clear and moonlight is less intrusive.

However, most are weak when compared to the Perseids, with low hourly rates and many faint meteors. Moonlight, low radiant positions, overlapping showers, and sporadic meteors can make them harder to see and identify, so observers need dark skies and patience.

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, Sky and Telescope, The Old Farmer's Almanac and other publications.

People keep asking me about the total solar eclipse on August 12. That's understandable. For anyone in the Northern Hemisphere, it is shaping up to be a joyous day of astronomy. Totality will cross eastern Greenland, western Iceland and northern Spain, but much of Europe will see a very deep partial eclipse, and even parts of North America will see a small bite taken from the sun. Then, just hours later, the Perseid meteor shower will peak beneath perfectly moonless skies. What a double-act!

The problem with promoting days and nights like that is that they make us think skywatching is only worth doing at very specific times. Everything becomes about moments, peaks and countdowns. That rings true for an eclipse, of course, but for the Perseids, it's less so.

The Perseid meteor shower actually begins right now. It's active from July 17 through August 24. Yes, it reaches a strong maximum overnight on August 12-13, where observers under ideal dark skies could see 50 or more "shooting stars" per hour. That's absolutely the night to aim for if you only go stargazing once a month. But for stargazers with a little more time, the hunt can begin right now.

The best Perseid is the first one you see. In these weeks before the peak, there's less expectation, less focus on the weather. An unexpected streak while you are outside feels accidental.

For me, it often happens when I've stopped observing properly for the night. Last summer, I was moving my telescope indoors late at night after a fairly unremarkable session looking at a few globular clusters. As I went back inside, I did my usual pause and look at the stars one last time. As I did, my peripheral vision caught a bright meteor whizzing across rooftops in the northeast. Summer's meteor season had begun with a bang when I least expected it to.

The Perseids officially build gradually over several weeks as Earth slowly enters the broad debris stream left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle. It was last in the inner solar system in 1992 and will return in 2126. The peak around August 12—13 marks the densest part of the stream, but in mid-July, only a handful of meteors will appear each hour. That's exactly why early Perseids feel so special — you stumble across a meteor when you least expect it. Its gradual beginning also explains why some of the earliest Perseids can be surprisingly dramatic. The shower is famous for bright fireballs — large, vivid meteors that sometimes leave glowing trails lingering for several seconds. Even when overall meteor rates remain low in July, a single bright Perseid can add some magic to a night's observing.

What's happening and when to look

If you want to begin watching for Perseids this week, the best time is after midnight through the small hours before dawn, when the radiant constellation, Perseus, climbs higher in the northeastern sky. "Shooting stars" can appear anywhere in the night sky, but if their paths backward point roughly toward Perseus, it's a Perseid. That's what gives the shower its name.

There's more to look at than Perseids because July is quietly crowded with other meteor showers. The Southern Delta Aquariids begin strengthening through the second half of the month. From southern latitudes, they can produce roughly 25 meteors per hour under dark skies, though observers farther north tend to see fewer because the radiant stays low in the southern sky. These meteors are usually softer and subtler than Perseids — medium-speed streaks without many dramatic fireballs or glowing trails.

Running alongside them are the Alpha Capricornids, active from early July into mid-August. Technically, this is a weak shower, often producing only a handful of meteors per hour, but it compensates with unusually bright, slow-moving fireballs.

Unfortunately, both showers peak this year beneath an almost full Buck Moon on July 30-31, which will wash out many fainter meteors. But bright meteors and fireballs should still occasionally punch through the moonlight.

How and when I'm watching it

I will probably begin meteor season the same way I always do: accidentally. I'll increase the odds by lingering outdoors slightly longer than necessary on warm nights, staying up later than I should and using my smart telescope to collect data on deep-sky objects while I search the skies for the first Perseid. It's best done now, before the moon waxes to full, and certainly before early August, when it wanes — the worst moon phase for observing meteors because it's in the sky just as meteor activity peaks.

Stargazer's corner: July 17-24, 2026

With a new moon on July 14, this weekend is perfect for watching the return of a waxing crescent moon to the night sky. Look low in the west during dusk on Friday, July 17, to see a 16%-illuminated waxing crescent moon to the left of Venus. Watch it climb higher into the evening sky night after night, leaving genuinely dark late-night skies once it sets. It's good timing for the first serious Perseid-watching session of the season, particularly after midnight when meteor activity naturally increases as Earth rotates into the direction of travel around the sun.

Meanwhile, the Summer Triangle — formed by Vega, Deneb and Altair — hangs almost overhead during the darkest hours, making this one of the easiest seasonal star patterns for beginners to learn. Saturn now rises comfortably before midnight and dominates the southeastern sky by dawn, when it's joined by Mars and the stunning Pleiades open cluster.

Constellation of the week: Perseus

Perseus, "The Hero," never quite looks how beginners expect. Rising into the northeastern night sky around midnight this week between bright star Capella and Saturn in the east, its name suggests something dramatic, but the constellation itself appears more like a loose chain of stars stretching below Cassiopeia in the northeastern sky. At this time of year, Perseus rises late, which is why the best Perseid activity happens after midnight once the radiant climbs higher. Beginners often assume meteors appear only near the radiant itself, but the longest and most impressive Perseids usually streak much farther away across the sky. Perseus matters less as a viewing target than as a reminder that meteor showers are fundamentally about perspective. The meteors are not actually emerging from the constellation at all — Earth is simply driving through comet debris head-on.

Look up! The Perseid meteor shower is finally active, bringing the potential for gorgeous shooting stars and fireballs as Earth plunges into the trail of debris shed by the icy comet Swift-Tuttle. Here's what you need to know.

The Perseid meteor shower 2026 is set to be a truly magnificent affair and a stark contrast to last year, when moonlight drowned out all but the brightest shooting stars. The shower will reach peak activity overnight on Aug. 12-13 under the dark skies of the new moon. During the peak, up to 100 shooting stars may be seen each hour as they cut fiery paths through the summer sky, according to the American Meteor Society.

You could even spot a Perseid brightening the false twilight triggered at the climax of the Aug. 12. eclipse, as the moon perfectly hides the surface of our parent star. But for that to happen you'd have to find yourself in the path of totality just as a large fireball-producing meteoroid struck Earth's atmosphere. It's certainly possible, but let's just say that the odds aren't stacked in your favor.

If you're not in the path of totality then there's no need to despair, you stand a much better chance of spotting Perseids the old fashioned way anyway!

How to spot Perseid shooting stars

Perseid meteors can be spotted anytime after dark from tonight onwards, streaking away from a patch of sky, or radiant, located close to the red supergiant star Eta Persei in the constellation Perseus.

To find the best meteors, you'll first want to locate Perseus glistening above the northwestern horizon after dark. Next, find a patch of sky 40 degrees above it, and settle in for one of the year's premier natural light shows. This is where the shooting star trails will be at their longest.

The Perseids are also famed for producing vivid green fireballs capable of briefly turning night to day as larger chunks of debris collide with Earth's atmosphere at speeds of up to 37 miles per second (59 kilometers per second).

When to look for Perseid meteors

Perseid meteors may be spotted anytime from 10 p.m. onward for viewers in the U.S., though the number of visible shooting stars will be higher in the hours before dawn, when the radiant rises to its highest point in the summer night sky. Try to head away from city lights and allow at least 20 minutes for your eyes to adapt to the darkness.

Relatively few shooting stars will be visible in the days following the shower's awakening compared to the peak. However, if you do catch one, you'll have seen the demise of a meteoroid that's likely been flying through space for thousands of years before reaching Earth.

"The meteors we see early and late during the activity are most likely the oldest as they have obviously been perturbed from the main orbit of the comet, which we encounter in mid-August," said Robsert Lunsford of the American Meteor Society in an email to Space.com.

The greatest number of meteors can be seen in the predawn hours of Aug. 13 as the shower reaches peak activity, when Earth passes through the densest section of the debris stream left behind by comet Swift-Tuttle.

Want to capture your own photos of the Perseid meteor shower? Then be sure to read our guide detailing how to image shooting stars, along with our roundups of the best cameras and lenses for astrophotography.

Editor's Note: Did you capture a photo of a Perseid and want to share it with Space.com's readers? Then please send your photos and comments, along with your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Heads up, stargazers! The notoriously unpredictable June Bootid meteor shower is set to peak this week — and anything could happen.

While most annual meteor showers follow a fairly predictable script, the June Bootids have a habit of surprising astronomers. Most years, the shower produces only a few meteors per hour. Occasionally, however, it erupts into an unexpected display.

In 1998, skywatchers were treated to an outburst of up to 100 meteors per hour, while another burst in 2004 produced an estimated 20-50 meteors per hour, according to the Royal Museums Greenwich. Yet the shower remains notoriously difficult to predict. In 2010, astronomers anticipated another outburst, but fewer than 10 meteors per hour were reported.

What causes the Bootids?

The June Bootids occur when Earth passes through debris left behind by comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke, which orbits the sun approximately every six years. As fragments of this icy wanderer's trail enter Earth's atmosphere, they burn up and create bright streaks of light we call meteors, or shooting stars.

When is it?

The shower is active through late June, with the peak of the shower predicted for between June 20 and June 27, according to the American Meteor Society.

How can I see it?

Most years, the June Bootids put on a very modest show with just one or two meteors per hour. However, they have earned a reputation for the unexpected, which is why many skywatchers keep an eye on them despite their modest rates. You never really know what the June Bootids have in store.

For the best chance of spotting a June Bootid, head to a dark location away from city lights if you can. The shower's radiant — the point from which the meteors appear to originate — lies in the constellation Boötes, which sits high in the western and southwestern sky during the evening for observers in the Northern Hemisphere.

While the radiant can help you identify June Bootids, you don't want to look directly at it. Instead, find a comfortable spot with a wide view of the sky and let your eyes adjust to the darkness for at least 20 minutes. Meteors are often easier to spot when you're scanning a broad area of sky.

A dazzling fireball streaked through the skies above the Midwest on June 14, crashing through Earth's atmosphere at a staggering 56,000 mph (90,123 km.h per hour) before burning up.

The fireball first appeared over Tupelo, Mississippi at 11:26 p.m. EDT on June 14 (0326 GMT on June 15). It then raced roughly 300 miles across the sky before disappearing from view over the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri according to NASA.

More than 500 witnesses reported the event to the American Meteor Society,— some of whom uploaded footage of the fiery event. NASA's all-sky camera network also captured the fireball from three locations.

NASA estimates the object measured only about 3 inches (8 centimeters) across and weighed roughly 1 lb (453 grams), yet it flared to 16 times the brightness of Venus as it tore through our planet's atmosphere.

The meteor — which is thought to be a small chunk of a much larger asteroid — was probably too small and traveled too fast to survive atmospheric entry and instead disintegrated entirely, leaving no parts of it to fall to the ground in the form of meteorites.

Want to see dramatic fireballs and shooting stars for yourself? Well you may not have long to wait! The Perseid meteor shower is active from mid-July and peaks overnight on Aug. 12-13— around the same time as a spectacular total solar eclipse sweeps across Greenland, Iceland and northern Spain.

Check out our shooting star explainer article to discover everything you need to know about the spectacular natural phenomenon, along with our roundup of every major meteor shower in 2026, which will ensure that you never miss a display.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your fireball footage and imagery with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo/video accompanied by your comments, name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Meteor showers occur during the day too, and the Arietids can put on quite a show this time of year.

The shower is active from May 22 to July 3, with a predicted peak around mornings of June 10, 2026, according to astronomy site Earth Sky.

Read more: Night sky June 2026: What you can see tonight

Unlike most meteor showers, however, there is a very narrow window for viewing the Arietids — about 45 to 60 minutes before sunrise. Because the sun washes out most of these meteors, the approach must be different from that of regular meteor showers if you are to catch them.

Do not look for the Arietids around midnight. Look to the eastern horizon before sunrise. Best viewing occurs right as the earliest hint of dawn touches the night sky.

The Arietids' radiant is near the star 41 Arietis (Bharani) in the constellation Aries. Since the radiant is hugging the eastern horizon at that time, the meteors won't "fall down from above." They will seem to shoot straight up from the horizon, which is quite a sight to see. They can also be seen skimming horizontally across the top of the atmosphere.

Since they restrict the field of view too much to enjoy this spectacle fully, you can put away your binoculars and telescopes for this one (and, seriously, with the sun not being far behind, lurking just below the horizon, it's best not to use binoculars and telescopes in view of the danger of inadvertently pointing them at the sun, which can permanently injure your eyes). The best way to observe any meteor shower is with the naked eye. Make yourself comfortable and enjoy.

For the most adventurous amateur who wants to push the boundaries of visual observation, the Arietids are also an interesting target for basic radio astronomy that requires very little equipment to enjoy.

Listen for meteors

Instead of looking for the Arietids with your eyes, you can "listen" to them with an old antenna and a standard FM radio receiver. When a meteor slams into the upper atmosphere, it vaporizes and leaves behind a column of ionized gas that acts like a temporary mirror for radio signals.

Simply tune the FM radio receiver to a distant frequency that normally only delivers static. Leave the radio on. When an Arietid streaks across the daytime sky, the ionized trail will bounce distant signals right into the antenna, resulting in an eerie short burst of music or voice breaking through the static.

Searing across the night sky, a meteor puts on a spectacular show above a powerful observatory.

The meteor's blaze was captured above the U.S. National Science Foundation's (NSF) Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO).

What is it?

Petr Horálek, a NOIRLab Audiovisual Ambassador, captured this photograph of a meteor soaring above the KPNO, which is located on Kitt Peak in the Quinlan Mountains in the Sonoran Desert. The observatory is in southern Arizona, on the land of the Tohono O'odham Nation. KPNO is also part of the NSF's NOIRLab (National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory).

In the image, you can see an observatory dome to the left of the bright meteor's blaze. This is the dome of the WIYN 0.9-meter telescope, and to its right is the WIYN 3.5-meter telescope.

Above these scopes, the meteor is surrounded by quite an impressive view. The night sky in this image contains the constellations Orion and Canis Major, and you can even see some interesting bright red structures in the sky. These are emission nebulae, or clouds of ionized gas that emit light.

Why is it incredible?

It is no easy feat capturing an image of a meteor in motion. The brilliant streak is often visible for just a moment or two. Even if you are outside sitting and waiting and staring at the sky, the second you turn your head elsewhere you might miss it.

The most active meteor showers generate enough action to give you a decent shot of catching one in a photograph. But even in the best of circumstances, capturing a meteor in a photo this spectacular takes both serious skill and luck.

But Horálek didn't just manage to capture a mid-streak meteor. The astrophotographer also framed the meteor with the tree line, the telescopes, and a fantastical backdrop of the night sky. That takes skill, luck and an artistic eye.

A sonic boom heard throughout the northeastern United States last week was caused by a meteor, NASA confirmed after consulting satellite imagery.

The meteor's boom, heard widely on Saturday (May 30) at 2:06 p.m. EDT (local time), was audible over the northeastern U.S. NASA made the determination that it was a meteor based on both eyewitness reports to the American Meteor Society as well as images from the GOES-19 satellite from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

"The meteor appears to have fragmented at an altitude of 40 miles over northeast MA and southeast NH," NASA officials wrote on X on Sunday (May 31). "The energy released at breakup is estimated to be equivalent to about 300 tons of TNT, which accounts for the loud noise."

Sometimes meteors are associated with meteor showers, or annual clusters of visible meteors associated with the Earth passing through the dust stream of a comet or asteroid. The May 30 event was not one of those, NASA noted.

The GOES-19 geostationary lightning mapper captured the meteor's flash, added the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere based at Colorado State University in a separate X post on Saturday with imagery of the event.

NBC News also captured video footage of the daytime event, noting the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency said safety officials received reports of an "audible boom" as well as shaking in the state's eastern area.

Meanwhile, video shared to the American Meteor Society by R. Schott shows the fireball streaking through the daytime sky as its boom can be heard:

Unfortunately for meteorite-hunters, it appears that pieces of the space rock all fell into the middle of Cape Cod Bay, stated NASA's Astromaterials Research & Exploration Science division on Saturday. "This fall into water is technically called a 'fishy squisher', in uber-serious scientific terms," the agency stated.

Radar signatures, shown in the map, show the meteor at KBOX (Boston, Mass.), TBOS (Boston Logan International Airport), KOKX (Long Island, N.Y.), and KENX (Albany, N.Y.), while officials said they may have seen another signature from from KGYX (Portland, Maine).

"While all the meteorites from this fall landed in water, the water depth at the fall site is 34 m (100 feet)," NASA officials added. "Most meteorites are strongly attracted to a magnet, and these ones are within reach of a 100-feet length of rope dangled off of a boat. In case anyone is interested in such factoids."

Natural meteors originate from extraterrestrial rock sources: a space rock about to enter our atmosphere is a meteoroid, one streaking through is a meteor, and one that has arrived on the ground is called a meteorite. Most of these events involve very small rocks, including grains of dust, although NASA (and increasingly, the U.S. Space Force) is always on the lookout for potentially threatening objects originating from space.

Heads up, skywatchers! Don't miss the Eta Aquarid meteor shower tonight, as activity peaks in the predawn hours of May 6.

Under ideal conditions, it's possible to see up to 60 meteors per hour when viewing from the Southern Hemisphere, but viewers in the Northern Hemisphere will see significantly fewer due to the Eta Aquarid radiant (the point in the sky the meteors appear to streak from) remaining low above the southeast horizon.

But viewing conditions are not looking promising for the Eta Aquarids this year. The peak occurs not long after the full moon on May 1, meaning the moon will still be about 81% illuminated during peak activity. Its bright light will wash out fainter meteors. However, that's not to say the shower is not worth looking for if you've got clear skies. The Eta Aquarids are known for producing dazzling "Earthgrazers" in the past, bright meteors emerging from Aquarius and skimming the atmosphere horizontally, leaving bright, colorful, long-lasting trails.

Where to look

For observers in the Northern Hemisphere, the Eta Aquarids will appear low on the horizon, emanating from the constellation Aquarius. For observers in the Southern Hemisphere, the Eta Aquarids are one of the best meteor showers of the year as the radiant appears much higher in the sky.

When to look

The best time to look for the Eta Aquarids is in the early morning hours of May 6, just before dawn. By this time, Aquarius is at its highest in the sky (albeit still fairly low).

What are they?

When you see an Aquarid meteor, you're watching a tiny piece of Halley's Comet burn up in Earth's atmosphere. Halley's Comet is a periodic comet that returns to Earth's vicinity once every 75 years or so. It was last here in 1986 and is projected to return in 2061. The comet, officially called 1P/Halley, is named after English astronomer Edmond Halley.

Viewing tips

• Head to a dark location away from city lights if possible
• Once there, allow your eyes at least 20-30 minutes to adjust to the darkness and avoid looking at your phone during this time (easier said than done!), as this will reset your night vision
• Wrap up warm, as you could be outside for a long time. Meteors can come in bursts, so give yourself at least an hour or two to enjoy the show.

If you're hoping to capture an Aquarid meteor on camera, our guide on how to photograph meteor showers can help. We've also rounded up the best cameras for astrophotography if you're thinking of upgrading your kit for the next big sky show.

Editor's Note: If you snap a photo of an Eta Aquarid meteor and would like to share it with Space.com's readers, send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

It's meteor season once again, skywatchers! The Eta Aquarid meteor shower peaks in the early hours of May 6, and you can follow the show live from wherever you are thanks to these skywatching livestreams.

While the Eta Aquarids are best seen from the Southern Hemisphere, these live feeds give you a front-row seat no matter your location.

If you're planning to step outside and watch in person, take a look at our guide on how and where to see the Eta Aquarid meteor shower.

Atacama Desert, Chile

Set beneath some of the darkest skies on Earth, this stream from the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) offers ideal viewing conditions.

Mauna Kea, Hawaii

Streaming from high above the clouds, this feed comes from Mauna Kea, one of the world's premier astronomy sites. With minimal light pollution and crystal clear air, it's ideal for meteor watching.

New Zealand

This livestream offers a view from the top of New Zealand's South Island, a prime location for catching the Eta Aquarids at their best. With dark skies and a southern hemisphere vantage point, the region is an ideal place to hunt for meteors during the peak.

Embleton, U.K.

This U.K.-based sky cam captures a broad stretch of sky, increasing your chances of spotting quick meteor streaks.

Japan

Tune in to the skies over Japan, where multiple live cams track throughout the night, giving you a great chance to catch sight of a meteor or two.

Editor's Note: If you snap a photo of the Eta Aquarid meteor shower and would like to share it with Space.com's readers, send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Just before daybreak on Wednesday morning (May 6), is the peak of the annual Eta Aquarid meteor shower. This meteor display is active in the first week of May and produces long streaks whose paths are aimed away from the "Water Jar" of Aquarius.

Their streaks are long for a good reason, which we'll explain in a moment.

The Eta Aquarids have a most interesting lineage. Unlike some of the other annual meteor displays whose history can be traced back for many centuries, the Eta Aquarids were not "officially discovered" until the late 19th century. In 1870, while sailing in the Mediterranean Sea, Lieutenant Colonel G.L. Tupman (1838-1922) sighted 15 meteors on the morning of April 30, and another 13 a few mornings later. All the meteors Tupman sighted appeared to emanate from the zodiacal constellation of Aquarius the Water Bearer. Then in 1876, Professor Alexander Stewart Herschel (1836-1907) pointed out that the orbit of Halley's Comet nearly coincided with Earth's orbit during the first week of May and that if we encountered any comet debris capable of producing meteors, those streaks of light would appear darting from the vicinity of Aquarius.

Herschel immediately noted that Tupman's observations were very close to his prediction. In the years that followed, increasing numbers of other astronomers and observers also noted similarities between the orbits of Halley's Comet and the Eta Aquarid stream.

Like other comets, Halley's is a cosmic litterbug; about every three-quarters of a century as it sweeps closest to the sun, it leaves a "river of rubble" in its wake along its orbit. When Earth interacts with that rubble river, those comet bits race through our atmosphere at high speeds to produce the effect of "shooting stars."

As it turns out, Halley is responsible for not one, but two annual meteor displays:

The dusty material that the comet releases into space on its way toward the sun produce the Orionid meteors of late October, while the material that is released after the comet has rounded the sun and is heading back to the outer limits of the solar system produces the Eta Aquarids of early May.

Moon muscles in

But to curb your enthusiasm, it is necessary to also tell you that this year the Eta Aquarids will be poorly seen, because of glare from a waning gibbous moon, which turned full on May 1. Although not as bright (81% illuminated) as when it was full, it will still serve to significantly light up the morning sky and likely squelch most of the fainter streaks from being visible. In other years — without a bright moon — the Eta Aquarids are usually the richest meteor display for observers in the Southern Hemisphere, producing up to 60 meteors per hour.

Too low

But bright moonlight is only one of two obstacles in viewing this shower. The other problem is that if you live north of the equator, hourly meteor rates drop off rather rapidly. This is especially true for north temperate latitudes because the Eta Aquarid radiant, where the meteors appear to dart from, never reaches a high altitude above the southeast horizon (it rises around 3 a.m. local daylight time), so rates are correspondingly low. Because these meteors appear to radiate from a position low on the eastern horizon for mid-northern latitudes, watchers in the tropics are best placed. Under the most favorable conditions, a dozen or more meteors per hour can be seen from the Eta Aquarid swarm. Observers from mid-northern latitudes, however, may only see about half as many.

Hope for a "grazer"

Still . . . even if you live in a far northern location, there is still reason to head outside and take a look, for it is possible that you just might luck out and sight an "Earthgrazer." These are bright meteors emerging from the Aquarid radiant that will skim the atmosphere horizontally — much like a bug skimming the side window of an automobile. They also sometimes leave colorful, long-lasting trails.

Remember earlier when we said that the Aquarid meteor trails are long? Well . . . Earth-grazing meteors tend to be extremely long and usually appear to hug the horizon rather than shooting overhead where most cameras are aimed. "Earthgrazers are rarely numerous," cautions Bill Cooke, a member of the Space Environments team at the Marshall Space Flight Center. "But even if you only see a few, you're likely to remember them."

Comet crumbs

And if for nothing else, remember that if you catch sight of an Aquarid meteor, you will have seen a piece of space debris that was shed by the famous Halley's Comet in past centuries. They remain traveling more or less along the comet's 75-year orbit around the sun. Each meteoroid collides with Earth's upper atmosphere at 41 miles (66 km) per second, creating an incandescent trail of shocked, ionized air. It is this hot trail and not the tiny meteoroid itself that is what you see. These particles are not very large and likely range in size from sand grains to pebbles, and they have the consistency and texture of cigar ash or copier toner — debris that astronomers believe dates back nearly five billion years to the birth of the solar system; primordial material which happens to intersect the orbit of Earth about this time in early May every year.

And just in case you're wondering, Halley's Comet itself will return to the sun's vicinity during the summer of 2061. So based on life expectancy statistics, if you were born anytime after 1982, you have a better than 50-50 chance to see the comet itself. Until then, we'll have to be satisfied with catching sight of shooting stars that are really the traces of that famous visitor from the depths of space . . . and quite possibly the dawn of creation.

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, Sky and Telescope, The Old Farmer's Almanac and other publications.

The peak of the Eta Aquarid meteor shower is almost here! Read on to discover the best time to spot the fast-moving shooting stars as Earth barrels through the debris trail shed by Halley's Comet.

When are the Eta Aquarids most active?

In 2026, the Eta Aquarids are active from April 19 to May 28 and come to a broad peak overnight on May 5-6. Your best chance to spot shooting stars will be during the predawn hours of May 6, when the shower's radiant — which points into the stream of the oncoming cometary debris — reaches its highest altitude for viewers in the northern hemisphere.

The shower's peak will be strongest for those watching from the southern hemisphere tropics, where up to 50 meteors may be seen streaking across the night sky each hour under ideal conditions, according to the American Meteor Society.

Viewing conditions are less favorable in the northern hemisphere, where it may be possible to spot 10-30 meteors, though, in practice, this number could be even lower. That's because the waning gibbous moon will appear in the sky at the same time, most likely outshining many of the fainter shooting stars.

A troublesome moon

The 84%-lit lunar disk rises above the southeastern horizon shortly after midnight on the night of May 5-6, flooding the sky with moonlight that will hide dimmer meteors from view, resulting in a potential hourly rate of under 10 sightings per hour for those in the northern hemisphere.

Where to look for Eta Aquarid meteors

First, locate the shower radiant in the constellation Aquarius, which can be found rising above the eastern horizon to the left of the waning moon roughly three hours after midnight for stargazers in the U.S.

We'd advise using a smartphone astronomy app like Stellarium or SkySafari 7 Pro to help you find the radiant in the glare of the nearby moon.

Next find a patch of sky 40 degrees away from the radiant — roughly the equivalent to the width of four clenched fists held at arm's length against the night sky. Eta Aquarid meteors are known for leaving persistent glowing trains in their wakes, and it's here they will be at their most impressive.

Shooting stars make for a magnificent sight to the naked eye and are just as incredible through the lens of a camera! Why not read our guide to photographing shooting stars ahead of the Eta Aquarid peak, alongside our roundups of the best cameras and lenses for astrophotography.

Editor's Note: If you capture a photo of an Eta Aquarid meteor and want to share it with Space.com's readers, then please send your image(s), along with your name, comments and location to spacephotos@space.com.

The Eta Aquarid meteor shower is almost here! Here's what you need to know as the shooting star display ramps up to peak activity, including when and where to look, viewing conditions and more!

Eta Aquarid meteors can be spotted from April 19 to May 28 as Earth passes through the debris trail left in the wake of Halley's Comet as the comet races along its 76-year orbit. Sightings of Halley's Comet in Earth's sky date back to over 2,000 years ago, and with each pass, the object sheds another stream of particles. These repeated streams serve as the origins of several shooting star displays.

In 2026, the Eta Aquarid peak will occur overnight on May 5-6, as Earth travels through the densest part of Halley's debris stream. Stargazers in the southern hemisphere could see up to 50 shooting stars crisscrossing the night sky while those in the northern hemisphere will be treated to a more modest showing of between 10-30 meteors per hour, according to the American Meteor Society.

Shooting stars associated with the shower become visible when tiny shards of Comet Halley impact Earth's gaseous shell at over 40.7 miles per second (64 kilometers per second), carving a fiery path through the atmosphere as they're overwhelmed by the pressure and force of atmospheric entry.

Viewing conditions

The 84%-lit waning gibbous moon will flood the sky with moonlight after it rises around midnight on the night of May 5-6, which will hide fainter shooting stars, dropping the hourly rate to below 10 shooting stars per hour. On the bright side, the Eta Aquarid's are known to produce the occasional fireball, which could easily pierce the veil of moonlight cast by the lunar disk.

How do I know if the shooting star I saw was an Eta Aquarid?

Meteors associated with the Eta Aquarids will streak away from a point of origin close to the bright stars Zeta Aquarii and Sadachbia in the constellation Aquarius, which can be found rising over the eastern horizon during early hours in early May.

Where should I look for shooting stars?

Eta Aquarid meteors may be seen whenever the radiant is above the horizon. The ideal time to hunt for shooting stars comes during the predawn hours of May 6, when the radiant will be at its highest above the eastern horizon.

First, locate the radiant to the left of the waning moon using a handy smartphone stargazing app. Then, find a patch of sky roughly 40 degrees away from this location in the direction of your local zenith (which is the point above your head). Here, the shooting stars will be at their most impressive.

Want to capture a gorgeous meteor photo for yourself? Then be sure to read our guide to photographing shooting stars, along with our picks of the best cameras and lenses for imaging the night sky in 2026.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

The Lyrid meteor shower put on a spectacular show last night as Earth plunged through the debris stream cast off by comet C/1861 G1 (Thatcher), triggering a peak of activity that saw shooting stars blaze a path away from the blue-white star Vega in the constellation Lyra.

Shooting stars appear when fragments of comets and asteroids cross paths with Earth, ending their existence in a fiery outburst as they are swiftly overwhelmed by the extreme heat and pressure of atmospheric entry. The annual Lyrid meteor shower is among the most ancient on record, having been observed for the past 2,700 years, according to NASA.

This year's Lyrid meteor shower reached peak activity in the early hours of April 22, as Earth passed through the densest seam of comet Thatcher's debris trail. Read on to see a selection of gorgeous images captured from Earth and space on the nights surrounding the Lyrid's crescendo, as shooting stars tore fiery paths through the early spring sky.

Gorgeous photos of the 2026 Lyrid meteor shower

Astrophotographer Harlan Thomas captured a spectacular early morning natural light show on April 20, as a Lyrid meteor photobombed the northern lights above Alberta, Canada.

"The image was taken West of Calgary in an area called Jumping Pound on April 20, 2026 at 4:20 am MDT (1020 GMT)," Thomas told Space.com in an email. "A Coronal Hole High Speed Stream (CH HSS) had arrived the day earlier and the geomagnetic storm continued into the next day."

Thomas captured another bright Lyrid blazing earthward that same night, as columns of blue auroral light leapt skyward to crown a vibrant band of green, as a torrent of electrically charged particles from the sun collided with our planet's magnetic field.

NASA astronaut Jessica Meir, meanwhile, snapped an out-of-this-world view of a Lyrid meteor streaking through Earth's atmosphere from the International Space Station's cupola, while orbiting 248 miles (400 kilometers) above our planet earlier this month.

The 3-second exposure captures the blue-white light of city lights shining below a red arc of airglow at the edge of Earth's atmosphere, where molecules have been excited by solar radiation, causing them to emit light. The meteor can be seen to the left of the image just below the curve of Earth's horizon.

Photographer Tim Pruss imaged a Lyrid shooting star as it intersected the path of a satellite between tree branches overnight on April 20-21, ahead of a potentially cloudy peak on the following night. "I reviewed over 2,000 images, frame by frame, just to find one meteor, and I’d do it again tomorrow," Pruss said to Space.com.

X user EricTheSpaceCat recorded several bright Lyrids as they carved fiery paths through the Minnesota sky overnight on April 19-20, as activity ramped up ahead of the shower's narrow peak a few days later.

Finally, Connecticut-based photographer Jeremy Cruz, caught a number of the fast-moving meteors that same night, using a Sony A7C II mirrorless camera set to capture 10-second exposures of the post-sunset sky.

The Lyrid meteor shower is active until April 25 — albeit at a lower hourly rate that falls the further you get from the peak — so get outside and look up over the coming nights for a chance to spot the bright fast-moving shooting stars before they vanish from our skies for another year!

Following the Lyrids, the next major meteor shower is the eta Aquariids, which reach peak activity overnight on May 5-6, when a maximum of 50 shooting stars could be seen each hour.

Feeling inspired to capture your own meteor photos? Then be sure to read our guide to photographing shooting stars, along with our roundups of the best cameras and lenses for imaging the night sky.

Heads up, skywatchers! Don't miss the Lyrid meteor shower tonight, as activity peaks in the predawn hours of April 22.

Under ideal conditions, it's possible to see up to 20 meteors per hour during the peak, with the chance to witness dramatically bright flashes known as fireballs.

Viewing conditions are looking promising for the Lyrids this year. The moon will set around midnight, leaving darker skies for the peak hours before dawn. While the shower continues through April 25, tonight offers your best chance to catch it at its peak.

Where to look

Lyrids can appear anywhere in the sky, but they trace back to an origin point known as a radiant in the constellation Lyra, near the bright star Vega.

Lyra rises in the northeast and climbs higher as the night goes on, making the early morning hours the best time to watch. For the most impressive streaks, look slightly away from the radiant — this is where meteors appear longer and more dramatic,

And if you can't get outside, you can still enjoy the show via live night sky streams from around the world.

When to look

The best time to look for Lyrids is in the early morning hours of April 22, just before dawn. By this time, Lyra is high in the sky and the moon has already set, reducing light interference.

What are they?

When you see a Lyrid meteor, you're watching a tiny piece of Comet Thatcher burning up in Earth's atmosphere.

Comet Thatcher is a long-period comet that last made its closest approach to Earth in 1861. Each year, our planet plows through the debris it left behind, producing the Lyrid meteor shower.

Viewing tips

• Head to a dark location away from city lights if possible
• Once there, allow your eyes at least 20-30 minutes to adjust to the darkness and avoid looking at your phone during this time (easier said than done!) as doing so will reset your night vision
• Wrap up warm as you could be outside for a long time. Meteors can come in bursts, so give yourself at least an hour to enjoy the show.

If you're hoping to capture the Lyrid meteor shower on camera, our guide on how to photograph meteor showers can help. We've also rounded up the best cameras for astrophotography if you're thinking of upgrading your kit for the next big sky show.

Editor's note: If you capture a photo of the Lyrid meteor shower and would like to share it with Space.com's readers, send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

The Lyrid meteor shower is currently active and peaks tonight, during predawn hours on April 22 — but if cloudy skies, light pollution, or a busy schedule are getting in your way of the show, you don't have to miss out.

A large number of high-quality night sky livestreams from around the world let you hunt for the Lyrids from the comfort of your home. Many livestreams even include a live chat where keen observers often drop timestamps to indicate when meteors streak across the sky, making it easier to catch the action. If you'd prefer to head outside, check out our guide on how and where to see the Lyrids in person.

Otherwise, here are some of the best livestreams to tune into right now.

Mauna kea, Hawaii

One of the highest-quality sky cams comes from Mauna Kea, home to world-class observatories like the Subaru Telescope. Thanks to its high altitude and exceptionally dark skies, this location offers stunning views of the Milky Way and countless stars.

Minnesota, U.S

This unique livestream lets you both see and hear the Lyrid meteor shower in action. A fisheye cam shows visible meteors, while a live radio feed detects faint "pings" from tiny particles burning up in Earth's atmosphere.

A real-time stats panel tracks meteor activity, revealing far more meteors than the camera alone can capture.

Maine, U.S

The atmospheric livestream from Sebec Lake in Maine pairs starry skies with relaxing music, perfect if you want something calming on in the background. During periods of heightened solar activity, there's even a chance of spotting auroras alongside meteors, adding an extra layer of magic to the already beautiful view!

Atacama desert, Chile

The dark skies above the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) in the Atacama Desert are among the clearest on Earth. This livestream is well worth a watch, with active chat users often sharing timestamps of meteor sightings and occasionally rarer phenomena like atmospheric sprites!

Embleton, U.K.

This sky cam from Embleton offers a wide field of view ideal for spotting meteors streaking across large sections of sky. When conditions are clear, it's a great option for spotting the Lyrids over U.K. skies.

Mount Fuji, Japan

Few backdrops rival Mount Fuji. This livestream pairs meteor hunting with one of the most iconic landscapes on Earth. If skies are clear, you might just catch a Lyrid meteor streaking above the mountain's silhouette.

The Lyrid meteor shower is nearing peak activity! Here's the best time to hunt for shooting stars as well as a guide on where to find them in the spring sky so you can maximize your chances of spotting these fast-moving meteors.

When are the Lyrids most active?

In 2026, the Lyrid meteor shower is active from April 16-25 and reaches peak activity around 4 p.m. EDT (2000 GMT) on April 22 during the day for viewers in the U.S., according to the American Meteor Society (AMS).

If you're watching from the U.S., your best time for spotting Lyrid shooting stars is during the hours preceding dawn on April 22, when up to 18 meteors may be seen each hour blazing away from an apparent point of origin, or radiant, located close to the bright star Vega in the constellation Lyra.

The radiant rises to its highest point — when the most meteors will be visible — in the hours before sunrise.

As a bonus, the 27%-lit waxing moon will set below the horizon around 2 a.m. local time. That should provide a beautifully dark night sky upon which the natural light show can stand out. The shower will also spawn a decent number of meteors on the three nights surrounding the peak, so there's no need to despair if you miss the show on April 22!

Where to find Lyrid meteors

We see Lyrid meteors as Earth passes through the debris stream left behind by the wandering comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher. The shower's radiant indicates the direction from which the meteors strike Earth's atmosphere. So, if you stare directly at the radiant, you won't get to see the shooting stars with the longest trains.

To find the best Lyrids, locate the blue-white light of Vega — and with it the approximate position of the radiant — shining high above the eastern horizon after the moon has set on April 22. Be sure to use a handy smartphone astronomy app to help point the way if you're not used to navigating the night sky. Many of these apps actually use augmented reality technology to pinpoint specific stars and deep sky objects, which makes the sometimes daunting prospect of finding your way about the starry sky a breeze.

Next, search for a clear patch of sky about 40 degrees away from the radiant — 40 degrees being roughly the width of four clenched fists held at arm's length. This is where the most spectacular shooting stars and fireballs can appear.

How to maximize your chances

The moon won't get in the way of your predawn meteor hunting, but city lights most certainly will! Head away from artificial lights and allow 20-30 minutes for your vision to adjust to the dark. Make sure you're using a red light to protect your night vision and that you've switched your astronomy app to "night mode" (or the equivalent setting).

Don't be tempted to use binoculars, as this will limit your field of view. Instead, lay back — ideally on a deckchair or blanket — and take in as much of the sky as possible. And if you're heading somewhere remote, be sure to let a friend or loved one know where you're watching the show from.

Editor's Note: If you snap a photo of a Lyrid meteor and want to share it with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

For enthusiastic meteor watchers, it has been a long stretch — nearly 16 weeks to be exact — since there has been a good opportunity to catch sight of a reasonably good meteor shower. There are ten displays during the year that are generally considered reliable and worth looking for. But the last of these peaked in early January — the Quadrantid meteors. Since then, we've gone through the rest of winter and into the first month of spring with not much in the way of significant meteor activity.

That drought will come to an end before dawn on Wednesday (April 22) with the appearance of one of the oldest known meteor showers.

The meteors are called "Lyrids" because their paths, if extended backward, appear to diverge from a spot in the sky about 9 degrees to the lower right of the brilliant bluish-white star Vega, in the constellation of Lyra, the Lyre. To give you a good idea of how far that is, your clenched fist held at arm's length measures 10 degrees. Within a day on either side of the maximum, about 5 to 10 Lyrids can usually be seen each hour by a single observer under good skies.

Good viewing circumstances

At the peak, which comes on Wednesday morning, the Lyrid rate is roughly 10 to 20 per hour.

Vega appears to rise from the northeast around 9 p.m. local daylight time, but by 4 a.m., it has climbed to a point in the sky nearly overhead. By that time, you might want to lie down on a long lounge chair where you can get a good view of the sky. Bundle up too, for while it probably won't be as cold as on a winter's night, nights (and especially early mornings) in April can still be quite chilly.

Finally, while the moon will arrive at first quarter phase on April 23, it will have set by 1:15 a.m. on Wednesday, leaving the sky dark and moonless for at least 3 and a quarter hours before the first light of dawn, providing a good backdrop for viewing this faithful meteor display.

Crumbs from Comet Thatcher

While hardly a rich display like the famous August Perseids or December Geminids, the April Lyrids are brilliant and appear to move fairly fast, appearing to streak through our atmosphere at 30 miles (48 km) per second. About 20-25% leave persistent trains. Their orbit strongly resembles that of C/1861 G1 (Thatcher), a comet which appeared in 1861 and has an orbital period of about 415 years; it's due to return sometime around the year 2276. The Earth's orbit nearly coincides with Comet Thatcher around April 22 each year. When we pass that part of our orbit, we ram through the dusty debris left behind by the comet.

Thus, the Lyrids are this comet's legacy: they represent the tiny bits and pieces shed by this comet on previous visits to the sun. None of us, of course, has any chance of seeing this comet's return engagement with the sun, but we will certainly be able to enjoy the sight of tiny bits and pieces that broke off its nucleus hundreds or thousands of years ago, blaze through our atmosphere in a fiery flash to create the effect of a "shooting star."

An ancient meteor shower

The Lyrid meteor shower has been observed for more than 2,600 years; Chinese records say "stars fell like rain" in the shower of 687 B.C. Quite spectacular displays have also been witnessed at least a dozen times since. On April 20, 1803, residents of Richmond, Virginia, after being roused out of bed by a fire bell, were surprised to see great numbers of meteors in all parts of the sky.

In 1922, an unexpected Lyrid rate of 96 per hour was recorded, and in 1982 rates unexpectedly reached 80 per hour, so although it is usually a weak display, the Lyrids have had a history to surprise observers, so it's always one to watch.

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, Sky and Telescope, The Old Farmer's Almanac and other publications.

The Lyrid meteor shower is back, and knowing where to look can make all the difference when it comes to spotting these fast, bright shooting stars!

The Lyrids appear to radiate from the constellation Lyra, which rises in the northeast and climbs higher in the sky toward the early morning hours. (Yes, sorry, this shower favors the early birds!)

You can find Lyra by locating Vega, one of the brightest stars visible in the night sky at this time of year. It'll be shining bright above the northeastern horizon shortly after sunset and climb higher in the sky as the night progresses. A dedicated stargazing app can help you identify targets like Vega in the night sky with ease. BUT don't look directly at the radiant. While meteors appear to originate from Lyra, the longest and most dramatic streaks often appear farther away. Make sure to scan the sky surrounding the radiant while also keeping an eye on the rest of the sky, as Lyrids can appear unexpectedly in any and all parts of the sky!

The Lyrids can produce up to 15-20 meteors per hour under ideal conditions. Fortunately, the moon won't interfere with this year's display, as it will set after midnight and leave dark skies for peak viewing!

5 top tips to see the Lyrid meteor shower

1. Don't look directly at the radiant: Look slightly away from Lyra to catch longer, brighter meteor trails.
2. Face the darkest part of the sky: Turn away from city lights and aim your gaze at the darkest, clearest patch of sky possible.
3. Choose a wide, unobstructed view: Open landscapes like fields, beaches or hilltops give you a better chance at spotting meteors across a larger area.
4. Let your eyes adjust to the dark: Give your eyes at least 20-30 minutes to adapt, and avoid looking at your phone, as doing so means you'll need to start all over again!
5. Get comfortable and be patient: Lie back in a reclining chair or on a blanket. The longer you watch, the more you're likely to see, so make sure you're nice and warm!

If you want to try and capture the magic of the Lyrids in a photo, check out our guide to photographing meteor showers, along with our roundups of the best cameras and lenses for astrophotography.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your Lyrid meteor shower photos with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

The Lyrid meteor shower has begun! Here's what to expect as the shooting star display brightens the spring night sky, when it peaks and how to know if you've spotted a Lyrid, or a sporadic meteor!

Lyrid meteors are visible each year as Earth passes through the trail of debris shed by the C/1861 G1 Thatcher, a long-period comet that visits the inner solar system just once every 415 years, according to NASA.

In 2026, the Lyrids are active from April 16-25 and reach peak activity on April 22, as Earth passes through the densest region of Thatcher's dusty trail.

Shooting stars associated with Comet Thatcher are known for producing fast-moving meteors that tend to lack long-lasting trains. The shower can also spawn impressive fireball events that outshine even the brightest planets, as bigger chunks of cometary debris — sometimes the size of a basketball, or larger — forge a flaming path through Earth's atmosphere

Viewing conditions

The waxing moon will be 40%-lit as the Lyrid meteor shower comes to a peak on the night of April 21-22, when up to 18 shooting stars may be visible brightening the night sky each hour. The lunar disk will set below the western horizon among the stars of the constellation Gemini roughly an hour and a half after midnight, leaving the sky beautifully dark for hunting meteors.

How do I know if the shooting star I saw was a Lyrid?

Shooting stars belonging to the Lyrid meteor shower appear to streak away from a patch of sky — known as the shower's radiant — close to the bright star Vega, whose blue-white light can be spotted shining in the constellation Lyra. This summer constellation rises to its highest point in the eastern sky in the predawn hours in mid-to-late April.

Lyrid meteors may be seen anytime after dark when the radiant is above the horizon. However, your best chance of catching the most shooting stars is in the predawn hours of April 22, as the shower ramps up to peak activity.

Where should I look to see shooting stars?

Head outside around three hours before sunrise and locate the bright star Vega in the eastern sky. If you're unfamiliar with the night sky, you should try navigating using a stargazing smartphone app, many of which use augmented reality to point you in the right direction.

When meteor hunting, it's never a good idea to stare directly at the radiant. Instead, try to find a patch of sky roughly 40 degrees — roughly the width of four clenched fists held at arm's length — away from it. Here, the meteor trails will be at their longest!

You may also like: The Lyrids are coming! How I watch meteor showers from the middle of a city

If possible, try to allow 20-30 minutes for your eyes to fully adapt to the dark and to use a red light to avoid spoiling your night vision. Be sure to check out our guide to photographing meteor showers if you're planning on capturing the event for yourself, along with our roundups of the best cameras and lenses for astrophotography.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your Lyrid meteor shower photos with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

During last April's Lyrid meteor shower, I left my camera outside and went to bed. I'd set my tripod, wide-angle lens pointed skyward, exposures firing every 30 seconds. It's my usual routine for meteor showers, particularly relatively minor displays like the Lyrids. Sure, it's the first display of "shooting stars" since January, but my camera would be more patient than I — and see more meteors than I could from my light-polluted location. It's a calculated kind of laziness, and I'd done just enough to feel like I'd taken part.

Hours later, just before dawn, I stepped outside to bring my camera in. The sky was tinted with a deep pre-sunrise blue, the stars beginning to fade. I switched off the camera — and then, of course, it happened. A sudden, brilliant meteor tore across the sky — exactly what the Lyrids are known for. Excited, I went inside, straight to my laptop, slid the camera's SD card in, and started flicking through its hundreds of identical images for a previous fireball. Nothing — not a trace. The camera had been watching all night, but captured zilch.

Meteor showers are about persistence, but they're also about luck. The camera gives you coverage — a way to stack the odds — and it's still the best tool there is for catching a fleeting streak of light. However, sometimes the sky keeps its best moments for those who happen to be looking up at exactly the right time. Even a lazy stargazer like me.

What's happening and when to look

The Lyrids peak overnight on Tuesday, April 21, through Wednesday, April 22 — officially. This year, the early hours of Wednesday will likely favor North American observers, while that day's post-sunset hours are best for European skywatchers. That's because the Lyrids are predicted to come to a peak at around 20:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. EDT and 9:00 p.m. BST) on April 22. That peak falls in daylight in Europe and North America, which means the real opportunities come before dawn and after sunset on either side.

However, the exact timing isn't that important for the Lyrids, since the rates — about 18 per hour under perfect skies — tend to hold up for a night or so either side. So the committed meteor-hunter effectively gets two chances this year, with the early hours of Thursday, April 23, worth considering as well. The sweet spot is the early hours — around 4-5 a.m. — when the radiant point, in the constellation Lyra, climbs high in the northeast, close to the brilliant star Vega.

This year, the lunar timing is also kind. A new moon on April 17 means skies will be largely free of moonlight during the peak mornings. That means even faint meteors may shine through from a dark-sky location.

The Lyrids have fascinated skywatchers for centuries. They originate from debris left by Comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher, a long-period visitor that last passed through the inner solar system in 1861 and will next visit in 2283. Each April, Earth plows through its dusty trail — tiny grains burning up in the atmosphere at around 30 miles per second. A few explode into fireballs.

How and when I'm watching the Lyrids

You don't need perfect darkness to get something out of a meteor shower. You certainly don't need a telescope (something that will hugely restrict your chances). You just need patience — and a decent workaround.

For me, that workaround is "lucky imaging." I'll point a wide-angle lens — somewhere between 14mm and 24mm — towards the northeast, roughly where Lyra will climb. Focus is really important. I know exactly where on the focus dial to set my Sigma 14mm F1.8 DG HSM ART to produce sharp-looking stars (I used to use a tiny sticker to help me — now I just remember). If you don't know your lens as well as that, focus manually on a star, zooming in on it either in live mode or on the captured image. Or set the dial to infinity point (∞) on your lens' dial and take an image, nudging past it for each successive image until the stars are sharp.

It goes without saying that you should always have a fresh, empty SD card and shoot in RAW. I'll set the camera to ISO 800-1600 and use 30-second exposures in continuous mode. At first, I'll effectively be trying to create a sharp-looking night sky image. Once I'm happy with the sharpness and the composition, I'll click the shutter release and lock it in position. Then I'll leave it for three hours or more, taking image after image.

The beauty of this method is that the camera only blinks every 30 seconds. While I'm inside, warm and probably distracted, the camera is quietly collecting evidence — frame after frame of empty sky, until one contains a "shooting star."

Is this the purest way to watch a meteor shower? No, but it gives me choices. I can be outside, eyes adapted, scanning the sky. After all, there's no substitute for witnessing a meteor in real time. But delegating to a camera is also fine (it's what professional astronomers spend their entire careers doing), and often results in great images.

Stargazer's corner: April 19-25, 2026

The Lyrids are not the only fireballs in town. The eta Aquariids — produced by none other than Halley's comet — kick off on April 19, and though the peak isn't until May 5-6, it increases the chances of seeing a "shooting star." But there's more than meteors to see this week.

• On Sunday, April 19, a 9%-illuminated waxing crescent moon will hang above the Pleiades open cluster. Look below for Venus, now beginning to dominate the post-sunset sky as the "Evening Star — and set to stun all summer.
• On Wednesday, April 22, the 38%-illuminated moon meets Jupiter in Gemini, creating a striking pairing early in the evening as the Lyrids pop.
• All week, Venus slides past the Pleiades after sunset, getting nearest on Thursday, April 23, a close conjunction that will have stargazers and astrophotographers out in force.
• By Saturday, April 25, a waxing gibbous moon sits right beside Regulus in Leo, a "grazing occultation" as seen from the eastern U.S.

Asterism of the week: farewell to the Winter Triangle

It's time to bid farewell to the bright stars of winter. Look to the southwest just after dark from the Northern Hemisphere this month, and you'll see the iconic Belt of Orion close to the horizon. So too an equilateral triangle of bright stars; Procyon in Canis Minor, reddish Betelgeuse in Orion and Sirius in Canis Major. They're most easily found this week by first locating bright planet Jupiter and looking below. The triangle, however, is merely an optical illusion, with Procyon and Sirius at 11.4 and 8.7 light-years from the sun, but Betelgeuse at a whopping 650 light-years distant. The night sky isn't flat. With careful eyes, you can appreciate depth by identifying the sun's very close neighbors from distant stars.

My stargazing obsession: what the night sky looks like from space

The news that light pollution has worsened by 16% between 2014 and 2022 is truly depressing — and utterly obvious to stargazers who've witnessed the migration to cheap LED lighting. Last week, we got a glimpse of what the night sky looks like from the ultimate dark-sky site: space itself. NASA's Artemis II astronauts recently shared an image of the Milky Way from deep space, a beautiful shot of its bright core without distortion — and photobombed by the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) in the bottom-right corner. The image appeared just before April 12, nicknamed Yuri's Night to commemorate the date in 1961 that Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space in Vostok 1, and the first to see the stars from orbit.

A series of fireballs — very bright meteors — were spotted across North America from March 17-23, 2026. People in Ohio reported one on March 17. The next sightings were in California on March 19, Michigan and Georgia on March 20, and Texas on March 21, where a fragment crashed through a house roof.

It's happening beyond the U.S. Vancouver saw a fireball on March 3. France and Germany reported sightings on March 8 and 11. Many fireballs lasted a long time and were seen across wide areas. Some caused pressure waves and sonic booms.

Is something weird happening?

A clustering of fireballs

There's definitely been a clustering in fireball sightings. The American Meteor Society's fireball reporting database reported 1,587 reports in the U.S. in January, 1,425 in February and over 2,369 in March at the time of writing. Are meteor rates genuinely increasing, or are there mitigating factors that make all of this action a mere statistical anomaly, or primarily a reporting effect?

"This is the question everybody wants answered," said Nick Moskovitz, a planetary scientist at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, to Space.com. "I think we are looking at slightly elevated meteor activity, though still well within statistical expectations, and increased awareness and reporting, which happens whenever big events occur." The event Moskovitz is referring to occurred on March 21, when a 1-ton, 3-foot-wide meteor exploded over Texas, with a cannonball-sized fragment crashing through the roof of a house in Bammel, near Cypress Station, north of Houston, Texas. The massive fireball traveled at 35,000 mph and was accompanied by a loud sonic boom, according to NASA. The fragment landed in a bedroom, causing a surge in media coverage.

What the American Meteor Society data reveals

Has fireball activity increased? A detailed analysis by the American Meteor Society, led by Mike Hankey, says the trend may be real — but not straightforward. The March 24 report notes that while total fireball counts are only slightly higher than recent years, large, widely witnessed events have surged.

March 2026 stands out for the intensity and number of fireballs. Several produced meteorites in a short time — an uncommon event. "We might see 10 meteorite recoveries a year worldwide," said Hankey. "We had three recoveries in a week or ten days."

Instead of a uniform increase, the AMS found events with 50 or more reports have more than doubled. Events with over 100 reports have also doubled compared to recent averages. Smaller events remain about the same as before. This pattern suggests a genuine change in incoming material, not just more people reporting. Something unusual appears to have occurred in the distribution of large events.

The recent increase in reports may also be linked to advancements in technology and widespread camera use, prompting the question of whether these tools are amplifying the apparent surge.

Fireballs: AI and dash cams

One possible reason for more fireball reports is the growing role of technology — like video uploads to the AMS from dash cams, Ring doorbells, and security cameras. "It's not just serendipitous captures from these devices, but also their increasing affordability over the past 10 years that makes them accessible for scientific uses," said Moskovitz.

The Global Meteor Network, an international array of cameras pointed at the night sky 24/7, is overseen by a dedicated group of scientists and amateurs. "The data volume is now so large that no human could review it all, so automated routines find and report detections every night," said Moskovitz. However, bright events often saturate detectors and are missed, so citizen reports to AMS often alert professionals and prompt manual archive checks. Systems like NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) can detect larger objects globally but miss many smaller fireballs.

There's also the prospect that the rise of AI chatbots for guiding web searches may be leading to increased reporting of events. "People go to AI when they need to learn something, so if they saw a fireball, they might go to the AI — and the AI does say to report your sighting to the AMS," said Hankey, to Space.com. However, he was quick to caution against overestimating this effect. "One of those things that we can rule out is AI-driven report amplification. It's a possibility, but it can't account for everything."

While AI and new detection tech make reporting easier, they do not explain why there are more large, energetic fireball events.

Fireballs: trajectories and sonic booms

There's always going to be an observational bias; when fireballs occur over densely populated areas, there will be more sightings, as opposed to over the ocean. However, the length of a meteor's trajectory is also crucial. "When a trajectory is hundreds of miles long, more people are going to see it," said Hankey, stating that a fireball in Germany and France was reported by 3200 people because the track was 300 kilometers long. "If a meteor lasts 14 seconds versus one second, we're going to get more witness reports — it's just common sense." So it may be that the uptick in reports of late is because there are not just more or bigger meteors, but more long-lasting meteors that are hanging in the sky longer.

Something else that supports the hypothesis that recent meteors have been larger than usual is the prevalence of sonic booms — loud, explosive sounds caused by shockwaves when meteoroids, small rocky or metallic bodies from space, penetrate deeper into the Earth's atmosphere than usual. This deeper entry often indicates larger or denser objects. The American Meteor Society (AMS) data support this. In early 2026, nearly 80% of large fireballs (those with 50+ reports) produced audible booms — an unusually high rate. It's not a metric that can be artificially inflated by reporting effects. Together, these findings suggest that at least part of the surge reflects a real increase in the number of substantial incoming objects.

Fireballs: seasonal explanations

The spike in fireballs is not linked to a meteor shower. Although there are meteor showers year-round, there are no major events in March. "Meteor showers in general aren't really known for fireballs anyway," said Hankey. Meteor showers can produce fireballs, but sporadic meteors are more commonly responsible for the largest events. These fireballs come from asteroids, not comets.

However, there are seasonal effects tied to Earth's position in its orbit, particularly around the equinox, which occurred on March 20. "Spring is fireball season," said Bill Cooke at the NASA Meteoroid Environment Office, to Spaceweather.com. "For reasons we don't fully understand, the rate of very bright meteors climbs 10% to 30% during weeks around the vernal equinox." He added that meteorite fragments hitting the ground are more common in spring. Some astronomers think Earth passes through more large debris at this time of year, according to NASA.

Another seasonal effect is the anthelion source of sporadic meteors — anthelion referring to the region of the sky opposite the sun. In February, it's at its highest in the sky in the middle of the night. The fireballs are coming from this anthelion source, which has some interesting effects. Firstly, it makes them easier to see, in theory. "If you think about like Perseids or Geminids — the meteor rates are highest when the radiant is highest in the sky," said Hankey. Secondly, it makes them slower. "When they're coming from this anthelion source, Earth's velocity is subtracted from their velocity, so when they finally hit, they're very slow," said Hankey. Such fireballs have lower relative speeds because they are moving in similar directions to Earth. "It's like a car coming up next to you on the highway, trying to overtake you in a merge lane — if no one slows down, eventually you just collide." However, Hankey stresses that the recent increase goes beyond typical seasonal variation; there's still an almost doubling in the largest events.

Fireballs: the uptick is real

The emerging picture is of a real shift, albeit one that's not yet fully understood. Multiple lines of evidence — from increased sonic booms to higher witness counts for large events — point toward a change in the types of meteoroids entering Earth's atmosphere. However, scientists caution that the dataset remains limited. The uptick in fireball sightings could represent natural variability, a temporary clustering of debris, or a poorly understood feature of the near-Earth environment. Whatever is going on, there is no cause for alarm — these objects remain small on a cosmic scale and rarely pose a threat beyond localized effects. Earth is not under siege.

NASA has released a "strewn field" map of where meteorites may have fallen after a rare daytime fireball explosively disintegrated in the skies over Houston on Saturday (March 21) evening — with the force of 26 tons of TNT.

Houston residents reported hearing loud booms as pressure waves brought about by the meteor's demise reached the ground at 5:40 p.m. EDT (21:40 GMT), following its brief but fiery descent.

As the roughly 1-ton (1,000-kilogram) meteor struck the atmosphere, it created a flash of light bright enough to register on lightning mapping instruments aboard NOAA's GOES satellites, which hold geostationary orbits tens of thousands of miles above Earth's surface.

"Most of the mass of an object like this is reduced to atoms and fine droplets during the fireball and only a few percent of the total mass survives to reach the ground, scattered across a range of meteorite sizes," according to a post from NASA's Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Division (ARES).

Where did the meteorites fall?

Scientists detected meteor fragments falling through the Texas skies for eight minutes following its destruction 29 miles (46.6 kilometers) above the community of Bammel in Harris County on the evening of March 21. The fragments may have come to rest on a swathe of densely populated land between Willowbrook and Northgate Crossing.

In the image above, the potential distribution of the meteor fragments can be seen visualized in a strewn field map created by NASA's Ares division. The colors overlaid on the map indicate where you're likely to find larger or smaller meteorites, with red marking the zone where the heaviest (around 2.2 pounds, or 1 kilogram) shards may have fallen, and yellow where the lightest (around 0.04 ounces, or 1 gram) samples may be found.

ARES notes the map is provisional and subject to being updated when a discrepancy is resolved between its model of the event and another made by NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. The agency also cautions potential meteorite hunters not to trespass on private property during their search.

Think you've found a meteorite? Your first step should be to compare it to images of confirmed meteorites online before contacting your local university's geology department for advice and potential verification. You can also take a look for yourself using our handy home guide to identifying meteorite features? Try not to handle it too much with your bare hands, as the oils contained in your skin can degrade precious samples contained within the ancient meteorite, which dates back to the formation of the solar system.

This fireball incident follows hot on the heels of a separate daytime fireball event that rattled houses over northern Ohio on the morning of March 17, scattering meteorites in the vicinity of Medina County. Both fireballs are likely isolated events and aren't associated with major meteor showers.

A rare daytime fireball burst to life in the skies over the Midwest on the morning of March 17, creating a loud sonic boom that rattled houses as the meteor arced Earthward before fracturing over northern Ohio with the force of 250 tons of TNT. Now, the hunt is on to find the precious shards of the ancient wanderer, which carry significant scientific and monetary value.

The 7-ton (7,000-kilogram) meteoroid struck Earth's atmosphere at 8:57 a.m. EDT (12:57 GMT), leaving a fiery trail as it compressed the air molecules in its path, prompting over 200 fireball reports on the American Meteor Society website (AMS).

Its explosive fragmentation caused pressure waves to propagate through the air, triggering sonic booms that were heard through much of northern Ohio, while scattering fragments in the vicinity of Medina County, according to NASA. So what happened to these fragments?

Where did it land?

The fireball's journey through the atmosphere ended abruptly between the cities of Akron and Canton, Ohio, according to the American Meteor Society's computer generated map, which draws data from eyewitness reports.

However, AMS meteor expert Robert Lunsford adds a note of caution to any hoping to use the data to pinpoint fragments of the meteor. "It should be known that this trajectory is obtained from data provided by those who filled out our reports," Lunsford told Space.com in an email.

"Many of these folks are a bit haphazard in filling out these forms, especially when it comes to time and direction. I had many reports dated 2025 and several February. Therefore, this area may be off by many miles in any direction".

What do the fragments look like?

The meteoroid that created the spectacular daytime fireball is thought to have measured 6 feet (1.8 meter) in diameter when it struck Earth's atmosphere, However, the individual shards that you might be able to find on the ground following its demise are likely to be much smaller — just 1-2 inches (2.5-5 centimetres) in diameter.

"They would appear different from normal rocks found in the area as they usually have a fusion crust, created by the intense heat while passing through the atmosphere," said Lunsford. "They would probably look like bits of charcoal on the outside and lighter on the inside if broken."

Several Ohio residents have already claimed to have found chunks of the meteor, including one family from Medina County who found a walnut-sized rock in their driveway. “We haven't touched it yet. It's definitely black like a black coal," she said, "You can see some areas that's been melted as it came through, I guess," said Ohio resident December Harris in an interview with Fox 8 News.

What to do if you find one

Meteorites are hardy enough to survive the trial of atmospheric entry, but you should still handle them with care if you're lucky enough to find a shard lying on the ground. Thankfully, any pieces you find won't be hot to the touch — even if you find them immediately after they've fallen.

"They reach terminal velocity of about 300 mph while still many miles up in the atmosphere," explained Lunsford. "The last part of their flight is spent free-falling through frigid air (even in summer) before reaching the ground."

Try not to touch any potential meteorites with your bare hands, as the oils on your skin could degrade well-preserved samples of primordial matter that date back to the formation of our solar system billions of years ago. That said, the ancient rocks pose no health hazard to humans. "Meteorites may be radioactive, but at levels far below being dangerous," continued Lunsford.

If you think you've found a space rock, you should first compare it to images of confirmed meteorites online, according to Lunsford. If it's a good match then you could then contact the geology department of your nearest university and send them clear images of your candidate meteorite. You can also take a look at it through a microscope using our home guide to identifying and observing meteorite features!

While the odds of it dropping fragments on Earth are quite low, the next major meteor shower is the Lyrids, which is active from April 16-25 and comes to a peak on the night of April 21-22, when up to 18 meteors — and the occasional fireball — could be spotted each hour. Why not get ready for the natural light show by reading our guide to photographing shooting stars with a camera? While you're at it be sure to peruse our roundups of the best lenses and cameras for capturing the night sky.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Residents in the midwestern U.S. reported hearing a powerful sonic boom that has since been attributed to a potential daytime meteor, whose dramatic demise may have been witnessed by a satellite from geostationary orbit over 22,000 miles (35,000 kilometers) above Earth.

"The latest GLM imagery (1301Z) does suggest that the boom was a result of a meteor," wrote the official account for the Cleveland National Weather Service in an X post responding to a curious user. The explosion heard over northern Ohio may have been a sonic boom, produced as the interplanetary visitor passed through Earth's atmosphere at supersonic speeds.

Dr. Jim Lloyd of northern Ohio posted what appears to be footage of the event to X, which clearly shows a bright fireball streaking through the daytime sky at 8:56 a.m. EDT (1256 GMT). The daytime fireball can be seen leaving a glowing trail as it flared Earthward through the cloud-dappled sky.

Another view was captured by Pittsburgh National Weather Service employee Jared Rackley, once again revealing a fireball tearing through the morning sky. Others reported that their homes physically shook as a result of the loud boom.

The meteor's passage was also seemingly captured from orbit by the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration's GOES-19 satellite, which recorded a bright flash of light above northern Ohio in its Geostationary Lightning Mapper instrument.

Did anything make it to the surface?

It takes a significantly large chunk of space debris — sometimes larger than a beachball — to create a fireball meteor that can be seen in the daytime sky. As such, they are exceedingly rare.

"When an extraordinarily large meteor (beach ball size or larger) enters the atmosphere it often survives down to the lower atmosphere where the air molecules are dense enough to carry sound," Robert Lunsford of the American Meteor Society told Space.com.

"Therefore, folks below the path will hear a sonic boom that is usually delayed by many seconds compared to seeing the fireball. This is also a good indication that the fireball produced fragments on the ground. Our computer generated trajectory indicates that these may have fallen in the vicinity of Akron, Ohio. The source of this object is not yet known, but it is most likely a random occurrence not associated with any known meteor shower."

Arizona's Meteor Crater and other scars leftover from collisions with space rocks continue to serve up their secrets.

Meteor Crater formed some 50,000 years ago. It represents the best preserved meteor impact site in the world, measuring some 700 feet deep (213 meters), more than 4,000 feet across (1,219 meters), and 2.4 miles (3.9 kilometers) in circumference.

Impact features like Meteor Crater continue to be ongoing research sites, generating new data on what happens when objects from the cosmos strike our planet. In fact, a number of competitive grants are being offered to support field research at known or suspected impact sites worldwide. That funding is backing laboratory and computer analysis of research samples and findings, creating new data from digging in on old craters around our globe.

Natural laboratory

A recurring visitor to the crash site is Dan Durda, a research scientist at the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colorado.

"Meteor Crater is the best-preserved and exposed impact crater on Earth," Durda tells Space.com. "That makes it the perfect natural laboratory for impact crater studies. The crater is still providing new insights every year, so continued studies there are really important."

Similar in view is Christian Koeberl at the Department of Lithospheric Researchwithin the University of Vienna in Austria. He chairs the Barringer Crater Company (BCC) scientific advisory committee. The Barringer Crater Company has introduced grants to support students and early career researchers who study terrestrial impact craters, for better understanding of these craters and their formations, and also to encourage students to go into such important research directions.

"Barringer Crater — also known as Meteor Crater — was one of the first, if not the first, crater recognized on Earth as being of impact origin in the early 20th century," Koeberl tells Space.com.

The recognition of impact craters on the Earth is difficult, said Koeberl, because active geological and atmospheric processes on our planet tend to obscure or erase the impact record in geologically short time periods.

"Despite limited information about the early impact record we know that impacts had severe effects on the geological and biological evolution on Earth," said Koeberl. For example, a large impact event on Earth marks the transition from the Cretaceous to the Paleogene eras, about 66 million years ago, he added.

The most iconic species that has fallen victim to an impact, the dinosaurs, "literally had no chance," Koeberl said.

Read more: 10 Earth impact craters you must see

High-energy geological event

Morphological and geophysical surveys are important for the recognition of anomalous subsurface structural features, Koeberl said, which may be deeply eroded craters or impact structures entirely covered by post-impact sediments.

"Detailed investigations involve confirmation of either shock metamorphic effects in minerals and rocks, and/or the presence of a meteoritic component in these rocks. In nature, shock metamorphic effects are uniquely characteristic of shock levels associated with hypervelocity impact," Koeberl said.

Impact cratering is a short-time, high-energy geological event in which conditions are created that exceed conditions of nuclear bomb explosions.

These kinds of studies have led to the identification of, so far, of about 200 confirmed impact craters on Earth, Koeberl said. "Impact crater studies have actually grown in importance over the years and are an interdisciplinary effort. We encourage young researchers from all over the world to submit grant proposals," he said.

Barringer Family Fund applications and awards are administered by The Meteoritical Society and are due by April 1.

Ever wanted a slice of the cosmos at home? You can buy genuine meteorite as a keepsake for home. But did you know you can unveil incredible detail that you can't see with the naked eye, too? All it takes is knowing what to look for and what you need to make a successful observation.

I'll take you through the process of identifying and studying a genuine meteorite sample from the comfort of your own home and make personal recommendations for gear that I've found useful for the best results. Want to observe right away? See our step-by-step TL;DR below.

TLDR how to observe a meteorite using a microscope

• Choose the right microscope for the job: A dome loupe or hand lens works well on location, or a stereo microscope is a good option for slice samples and 3D views.
• Light your meteorite from above: The meteorite's opaqueness will stop any light from transmitting through it.
• Different colored stage plates may offer different views: Depending on the color of the stage plate you're using, you will get different views of the texture and colors of your meteorite.
• Check the fusion crust for authenticity: This should be abraded and melted from friction and high temperatures, so it will look softer and more irregular than the inner surface.
• Check if it's magnetic: Meteorites are magnetic, so test for authenticity with a magnet.
• Areas of observation: The fusion crust offers many noticeable observations, such as texture, colors and patterns.
• Top tips for observing meteorites: Research your meteorite first to understand what you might be able to observe and check the sample size matches your microscope.

1. Choosing the right microscope to observe meteorites

If you have access to high-tech laboratory equipment, you would use a microtome to slice extremely thin sections of your meteorite to mount on a slide. However, there are plenty of ways your specimens can be magnified at home so you can investigate the beautiful patterns, colors and textures that make up these interesting space rocks.

For a large meteorite, a dome loupe or hand lens can give you a magnified view of the outer surface. Both are portable, so they can be used on location. However, they are limited to 5x to 10x magnification.

To observe more details, you must obtain a thin-slice sample that fits on a microscope stage. A stereo microscope can provide a three-dimensional image, which is useful for seeing textures, especially on the meteorite's raw edge, the fusion crust. It is also important to illuminate your specimen from above, because the meteorite will be opaque and thus block any light transmission through the specimen.

We used the Celestron Labs S10-60 stereo microscope because it has both features. It also has interchangeable stage plates — black, white and translucent — to enable optimal contrast. This microscope had low magnification, and although this provided a wide field of view, it limited the amount of detail we could see.

Then, we switched to the Swift SW380T, a compound microscope that has high-quality lenses and offers much higher magnification and XY stage navigation. Unfortunately, the SW380T does not have a top light. However, we used a spotlight to illuminate the meteorite from above and successfully observed the specimen at 250x magnification.

2. Setting up your microscope

• Use a working distance of 2.1-inches (54 mm), depending on your sample size
• Light from above using the upper LED
• Swap between the black and white plate under the sample, depending on the feature you want to observe

Setting up the Celestron Labs S10-60 stereo microscope was simple. With a working distance of 2.1-inches (54 mm), it was easily capable of accommodating our 0.04-inch (1 mm) specimen lying flat. We could even use Blue Tack to mount the meteorite upright and observe the fusion crust at a height of 0.6-inch (16 mm).

Illumination needs to be set to come from the upper LED so that light is reflected from above the specimen; it is not possible to transmit light through the opaque matter. We found that the black plate highlighted shiny features and the rusty protuberances on the fusion edge, while the white plate enhanced the darker gray edges. With the 10x eyepiece lenses and the 3x objective lens, the overall magnification of 30x gave a wide field of view and enabled good magnification of a large portion of the specimen.

Setting up the SW380T took a little more work. A small spotlight directed from the side was angled to reflect from the specimen. The 4x and 10x objective lenses were suitable for viewing with this setup. When we switched to a higher magnification, the objective lenses were too long to allow the light to reach the meteorite and reflect through the body tube. To increase the magnification from 100x to 250x, we exchanged the eyepiece lenses from 10x to 25x, which worked well. Unlike the Celestron Labs stereo microscope, the SW380T does not give 3D images. Therefore, you must continually focus up and down to achieve focus at the depths of the thick specimen.

3. How to tell if it's a genuine meteorite

If you're questioning the authenticity of your meteorite, the first thing to look for is the fusion crust. The outer layer of a genuine meteorite would have been abraded and melted when it experienced friction and high temperatures entering the atmosphere. Therefore, in a real meteorite, this outer layer will appear visibly softer and more irregular than the inside structure.

Most meteorites are highly dense and magnetic, so test them with a magnet. Density can be measured by dividing mass by volume. An iron meteorite should have a density of between 7 and 8 grams per cubic centimeter.

Our meteorite came from a reputable supplier with a certificate of authenticity. Meteorite finds will not have this, however, so look for the above features or seek advice from an expert. As a starting point for procuring samples, you may want to consider Aerolite Meteorites, which are members of the International Meteorite Collectors' Association (IMCA).

4. Look for notable observations

With the naked eye, our Muonionalusta meteorite fragment had a silver color and a textured, partially shiny, cut face. It also proved to be magnetic. When observed under the dome loupe, one edge had a more pitted appearance, which was dull and darker in color. This appeared to be the fusion crust.

At 30x magnification, patches of rust were visible, in contrast to the silver metallic matter that formed the majority of the sample. The fusion crust was more irregular than the cut edges.

At 100x magnification, the fusion crust had visible bumps in a variety of shapes and colors. But, because Muonionalusta is unstable, it is susceptible to rusting. The orange surface matter could well have developed in more recent years as the iron-based meteorite has reacted with oxygen to form iron oxide. We could see several gray, rounded surface bulges, as well as some clear strands. At 100x magnification, the Widmanstätten pattern was clear.

The fusion crust nodules became more defined at 250x magnification. A beautiful fissure revealed a pitted texture on the shiny gray material, probably an iron-nickel alloy, with spherical rust growths emerging. A more regularly shaped crystal on the meteorite's surface could have been stishovite, a silicon dioxide compound formed under high pressure. Although it's rare on Earth, stishovite is a tetragonal crystal known to be present in the Muonionalusta meteorite.

5. Other useful tips and tricks for observing meteorites

Research your meteorite before you start your observations so you know what you may find. Is your meteorite iron, stony or stony-iron? Should it have chondrules (round grains found in stony meteorites)? Will it have regmaglypts (thumbprint dimples on the surface)?

Make sure you have the right sized sample for your microscope. A compound microscope needs a very thin slither — a few micrometers — or it must be illuminated from above. For specimens of a few centimeters, a stereo microscope is suitable.

Try searching for your own micrometeorites by collecting particulates from roofs or drain spouts. Use a magnet to see if any particles are attracted, and discard nonmagnetic ones. Use your microscope to identify any rounded, shiny ones — perhaps with a pitted surface — or signs of a melted outer surface. If so, you may have found a micrometeorite.

What is a meteorite?

A meteorite is a piece of inorganic space matter that has entered our planet’s atmosphere and landed on Earth. Meteorite samples give scientists an insight into how our solar system has evolved, help to map out the history of our universe and make predictions about future events. On a personal level, we get the opportunity to observe materials and patterns that are otherwise unavailable on Earth. You may be used to viewing the night sky through one of the best telescopes or best binoculars, but enjoying the view of a meteorite through a microscope takes you much closer to the wonders of the universe.

To identify good microscope features and enable finer observations of meteorites, we used an authentic slice of the Muonionalusta meteorite. Our sample was found in Norrbotten, Sweden, in 1906. You can find out more about how to tell if you've found a genuine meteorite in our How to tell if it's a genuine meteorite section.

Muonionalusta is an iron meteorite with iron-nickel alloys and traces of gallium, germanium and iridium, and its body displays the striking Widmanstätten pattern. Our sample had a raw edge that displayed the fusion crust, which formed when the outer surface melted as the meteorite entered Earth's atmosphere. Small stishovite crystals were present.

We chose a low-magnification stereo microscope with a top light because the opaque meteorite would have blocked the transmission of a lower-light source and condenser, and because it provided three-dimensional images. Although a number of high-magnification microscopes include a top light, we chose to adapt a simple light microscope to illustrate how you could observe a meteorite at home, no matter what type of microscope you have.

A meteorite has crashed through the roof of a house in the city of Koblenz in the west of Germany after a spectacular fireball lit up the night sky above western Europe on Sunday evening, March 8.

More than 2,800 sightings of the fireball have been reported to the International Meteor Organization (IMO), with dozens of video recordings having been uploaded on social media. Witnesses reported hearing multiple explosions as the space rock disintegrated in the atmosphere, showering fragments across the western German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

According to available reports, multiple fragments of the meteorite have already been found in Koblenz's Güls district, which will allow researchers to determine where the meteorite came from. Although damage to multiple houses has been reported by German media, no one has been injured in the incident. The largest discovered fragment reportedly pierced a hole the size of a soccer ball into one of the roofs.

Observers from France, Belgium and the Netherlands have also reported the sighting.

"A meteor just decomposed in front of my eyes," one user shared on X, together with an image showing a white smoky streak on the darkening sky.

Images of alleged meteorite fragments were published by the German Bild newspaper on Monday morning, March 9.

Millions of space rock fragments cross Earth's path every year. Most of those space rocks evaporate in the atmosphere during the fiery entry. On a clear night, several meteors streak across the sky in an hour.

Around 10,000 meteorites impact Earth's surface every year, but only a few hundred of those are recovered, most ending their lives at the bottom of the world's oceans.

Residents of several Midwestern U.S. states were treated to a dramatic natural light show in the early hours of Feb. 10, when a fireball meteor made a fiery descent, brightening the winter sky before appearing to disintegrate as it neared the horizon.

The meteor's fiery passage generated over 120 reports on the American Meteor Society website from skywatchers in Ohio, Wisconsin, Indiana, Kentucky and Illinois, some of whom captured its 48-mile (77 kilometer) journey on security cameras, dashcams and in the footage of smart doorbells.

The meteor was first spotted at 11:32 p.m. EST on Feb. 10 (0432 GMT on Feb. 11) as it streaked Earthward above the town of Trinity in Indiana while travelling at a blistering speed of roughly 29,000 miles per hour (46,670 kilometers per hour). The fireball flared repeatedly before finally appearing to break apart 27 miles (43 km) above Dayton, Ohio, per a NASA report.

Robert Lunsford of the American Meteor Society notes the possibility that the fireball is likely sporadic in nature, meaning that it doesn't belong to any specific shower or radiant group. "As for the possibility of this fireball producing meteorites, we look for reports that mention sounds associated with the event," Lunsford told Space.com in an email. "These are usually delayed sonic booms. Out of all these reports, none mention the fact that they heard sounds associated with this fireball. Therefore, it is most likely that this fireball completely disintegrated while still high in the atmosphere."

Meteors become visible when tiny shards of comets or asteroids known as meteoroids collide with Earth's atmosphere while travelling at tens of thousands of miles per hour, compressing the air in their paths and causing it to glow.

Larger chunks of debris — which can range in size from a baseball to an SUV and beyond — create dazzling fireballs as they plough through the atmosphere, which are bright enough to outshine the brightest planets in the night sky. The relatively slow speed of the fireball led NASA to conclude that the object meteoroid that spawned it was likely once part of a larger asteroid — rather than a faster moving comet — which subsequently fractured into smaller pieces.

Feeling inspired to snap your own meteor imagery? Then be sure to read our guide detailing how to photograph shooting stars and to check out our roundups of the best camera bodies and lenses for capturing the night sky!

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Your first major opportunity to spot shooting stars and bright fireballs in 2026 arrives overnight tonight with the peak of the Quadrantid meteor shower, though only the brightest members may be visible, as the annual event crescendos in the bright light of a full moon.

The Quadrantid meteor shower is active from Dec. 26, 2025 to Jan. 16, 2026, with a narrow peak lasting roughly six hours that unfolds in the period preceding dawn on Jan. 4, according to EarthSky.org. The shower owes its brief peak to the near-perpendicular angle at which Earth smashes through the thin debris trail left by asteroid 2003 EH1. Shooting stars appear when shards of ancient comets and asteroids collide with Earth, burning up in a fiery display as they are overwhelmed by friction.

Quadrantid meteor showers are capable of producing impressive displays, with up to 200 shooting stars visible each hour under dark sky conditions around the peak. Unfortunately, the 2025-6 shower comes to a head in the light of a full moon, whose glare will wash out all but the brightest meteors. NASA predicts an hourly rate of just 10 meteors per hour on the night of the peak. The January full moon is often called the "Wolf Moon", in reference to the predators that have been heard howling at Earth's satellite during the scarcity of winter.

Meteors associated with the Quadrantid shower appear to come from a patch of sky close to the "handle" of the famous Big Dipper asterism in the constellation Ursa Major — a circumpolar constellation that never sets for stargazers in the Northern Hemisphere. As such, the shower is best viewed from locations north of 51 degrees latitude.

The shower gets its name from a constellation created by French astronomer Jerome Lalande in 1795, known as Quadrans Muralis, which occupies this space near the Big Dipper, according to NASA. The constellation, however, was not chosen as one of the 88 constellations formally recognized by the International Astronomical Union (IAU).

The radiant will rest low on the northern horizon after sunset, but soars high overhead during the pre-dawn peak-viewing hours. Quadrantid meteors can appear in any part of the sky, though it's best not to look exactly in the direction of the radiant, where the trails will be at their shortest.

Hoping to immortalize your view of the Quadrantids? Then be sure to check out our guide to photographing shooting stars and if you're looking to upgrade your equipment, see our picks of the best cameras and lenses for astrophotography. .

Editor's Note: If you capture an image of a Quadrantid meteor and want to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Early each January, the Quadrantid meteor stream provides one of the most intense annual meteor displays, with a brief, sharp maximum that lasts only a few hours.

The meteors of this first shower of the year radiate from the northeast corner of the constellation of Boötes, the Herdsman, so we might expect them to be called the "Boötids." But back in the late-18th century, there was a constellation here called Quadrans Muralis, the "Mural or Wall Quadrant" (an astronomical instrument). It is one of the many constellation names that have fallen into disuse. Thus, the meteors were christened "Quadrantids" and even though the constellation from which these meteors appear to radiate no longer exists, the shower's original moniker continues to this day.

Crumbs of a dead comet?

At peak activity, 60 to 120 Quadrantid meteors per hour can be seen under ideal conditions. However, the influx is sharply peaked: just six hours before and after maximum, these blue meteors appear at only half of their highest rates. This suggests that the stream of particles is relatively narrow — possibly derived fairly recently from a small comet.

In fact, in 2003, astronomer Peter Jenniskens of NASA, found a near-Earth asteroid (2003 EH1), whose orbit closely matches that of the Quadrantid stream. Some astronomers suspect that this asteroid is actually a fragment of an old, "extinct" comet; perhaps the same comet that was recorded by Chinese, Korean, and Japanese observers during the years 1490-91. If so, that comet may have broken apart, with some of its debris becoming the meteoroids that now produce the Quadrantids.

2026: A poor year

Unfortunately, 2026 will not be a good year to look for the "Quads." Chalk it up to poor timing.

First, the peak of this year's shower, according to Margaret Campbell-Brown and Peter Brown in the 2026 Observer's Handbook of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, is predicted for 5 p.m. EST on Jan. 3. That places the maximum during daylight hours for much of North America. But even if the peak were to occur at night, there is an even greater problem.

For on that very same day, the moon will turn full.

As a result, throughout the overnight hours of Saturday, Jan. 3, into Sunday, Jan. 4, the sky will be flooded with brilliant moonlight. The moon will remain above the horizon all night, located in the constellation of Gemini the Twins and not far from the planet Jupiter. That moonlight will squelch all but the very brightest of meteors.

Ordinarily, the Quadrantids are best seen just before dawn — around 6 a.m. local time — when the radiant, the point in the sky from which the meteors appear to emanate, is climbing higher into the northeastern sky.

If you do decide to head out to look for meteors, remember to bundle up! It is, after all, wintertime. And if you can't find someone who would care to share the viewing duties with you, a thermos jug of your favorite hot beverage — coffee, tea or cocoa — makes for a fine companion on a cold night.

Two years from now, we could have a winner!

But as bad as it is for the Quadrantids this year, it will be a very different story in 2028.

That year, the peak of the shower is set for 5 a.m. EST on Jan. 4, which especially favors eastern North America. And the moon will be at a much more favorable phase: a fat waxing crescent, which will not be in the predawn sky at all and will thus be of absolutely no hindrance to meteor viewing compared to this year. Given clear skies, the "Quads" could turn out to be one of the best meteor displays of 2028.

Mark your calendars!

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, Sky and Telescope and other publications.

Don't miss the Ursid meteor shower peak tonight, heralding the last major shooting star display of 2025 as Earth plows through the debris trail shed by comet 8P/Tuttle.

The Ursid meteor shower is active during a relatively short window from Dec. 17 to Dec. 26, with peak activity expected overnight on Dec. 21-22, when up to 10 shooting stars may be visible each hour under dark skies, according to the American Meteor Society.

Shooting stars associated with the shower will appear to originate from a patch of sky close to the bright star Kochab in the constellation Ursa Minor, which can be found above the northern horizon throughout December. Ursa Minor, or the "Little Bear", is a circumpolar constellation. As such, it never sets from the perspective of viewers in the northern hemisphere and instead appears to spin around its brightest member — Polaris, the North Star.

How to spot Ursid meteors

The best time to hunt for Ursid meteors is from the evening of Dec. 21 straight through to dawn on Dec. 22. The shower's peak occurs just two days after December's new moon phase, which means that you'll have near pristine skies in which to hunt for shooting stars.

First, locate Kochab in the northern sky using a handy skywatching smartphone app. Next, find a patch of sky 40 degrees above the bright star in the direction of your local zenith (the point above your head). Here, the meteor trails will be at their longest. Remember, the width of your fist accounts for roughly 10 degrees of sky! So simply stack four "fists" on top of Kochab to find your ideal meteor hunting site.

The Ursid meteor shower coincides with the date of the winter solstice — the point when Earth's axis is tilted furthest from the sun, granting the northern hemisphere the longest night of the year. Be sure to wrap up warm to combat the late autumn cold and to allow up to 30 minutes for your eyes to fully adjust to the dark — this will help you spot the faintest meteors in the near-pristinely dark December sky.

Hoping to immortalize your view of the Ursid meteor shower? Then be sure to read our guide to imaging shooting stars and to check out our picks of the best cameras and lenses for capturing the majesty of the night sky.

Editor's Note: If you capture an image of an Ursid meteor and want to share it with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

The Geminid meteor shower put on a dazzling cosmic firework show when it peaked overnight on Dec. 13 as shards of the solar system asteroid (3200) Phaethon collided with Earth's atmosphere, forging fiery paths that illuminated the December night sky.

Geminid meteors appear to streak through the sky travelling away from the constellation Gemini, which plays host to the gas giant Jupiter throughout December. Photographers were able to capture striking views as shooting stars raced across the starfields of sparkling Northern Hemisphere constellations including Taurus and Orion, as the jewel-like stars of the Pleiades open cluster glowed nearby.

Read on to see a selection of gorgeous images revealing the splendour of the 2025 Geminid meteor shower as seen through the lenses of talented astrophotographers from around the world.

Want to capture your own images of shooting stars? Then be sure to check out our guide to photographing meteor showers, along with our picks of the best cameras and lenses for astrophotography to ensure that you'll be ready for the next big skywatching event.

The 2025 Geminid meteor shower in pictures

Photographer Tayfun Coskun captured a stunning shot of a Geminid streaking through the starry sky above the Yosemite National Park in California on Dec. 14, as the Hyades and Pleiades open star clusters shone above a glowing tunnel embedded in the tree-lined hillside.

Coskun was able to grab another view of a shooting star running parallel to the dense starfield of the Milky Way that same night, while also capturing the ancient light of the Andromeda Galaxy close to a tree near the silhouetted horizon. Two dense collections of stars known as the Perseus Double Cluster are also visible in the center of the shot, representing a population of stars that are far younger and hotter than the sun.

This shot of a Geminid blazing a trail below the three stars of Orion's Belt was captured on Dec. 13 in the skies over the Shandong province of China, a moment before it pierced the glowing patch of light representing the Orion Nebula — one of the closest stellar nurseries to Earth.

A meteor was also captured brightening the sky over the snowy landscape of Ulanqab, in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China, on that same night.

Photographer Fu Yujianglin immortalized a different shooting star as it speared Earthwards through the night sky, towards the snow-peaked mountains of the Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province, China.

Storm photographer and X user LoriGraceWX captured another spectacular meteor image as a shooting star tore through the sky over the Organ Mountains in New Mexico using a 24 mm lens.

Wouter van Bernebeek, meanwhile, took a breathtaking composite image from an altitude of 1,140 meters (3,740 feet) atop the Brocken Mountain in Germany, as shooting stars brightened the night sky alongside the glowing band of the Milky Way.

Photographer Matt Lantz combined 9 separate shots to reveal Geminid meteors streaking away from Jupiter and the bright stars Castor and Pollux in the sky above a picturesque church near Seymour, Texas, on the night of the peak.

Finally, northern lights chaser Jeremy Rand captured several Geminid shooting stars as they raced through the constellation Orion, which rested approximately 40 degrees away from the shower's radiant, where meteor trails were at their longest.

Feeling inspired to explore the night sky? Then why not browse our picks of the best telescopes and binoculars for imaging the night sky and be sure to check out our guide featuring expert advice for new stargazers if you're taking the first steps in your astronomy journey this winter!

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your meteor photos with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

When skywatchers think of meteor showers in December, they immediately think of the Geminids, which over the years have evolved into the most prolific and reliable of the dozen or so annual meteor displays that occur. And yet, there is also another notable meteor shower that occurs during December that, in contrast, hardly gets much notice at all: The December Ursids. The peak of this meteor display usually occurs during the overnight hours of Dec. 21-22.

The Ursids are so named because they appear to fan out from the vicinity of the bright orange star Kochab, in the constellation of Ursa Minor, the Little Bear. Kochab is the brighter of the two outer stars in the bowl of the Little Dipper (the other being Pherkad), which seem to march in a circle like sentries around Polaris, the North Star.

Ursid meteors are sometimes called the Umids, in a rather unsuccessful attempt to make clear that their radiant is in Ursa Minor, not Ursa Major.

Where to spot Ursids

The fact that Kochab is positioned so near the north pole of the sky means that it never sets for most viewers in the Northern Hemisphere. And since the Ursids seem to fan out from this particular region of the sky, it means that you can look for these faint, medium-speed meteors all through the night if you care to. The news is good at least so far as trying to catch of view of them this year, since the new moon is on Dec. 19, assuring dark skies.

These meteors are best seen during the last dark hour before dawn, when the radiant lies highest above the horizon in a dark sky. On the morning of maximum, hourly rates of between 5-10 Ursids may be seen. Plunging through the Earth's atmosphere at 22 miles (35 km) per second, the Ursids produce mostly medium-speed meteors. Very little activity will be seen away from the night of maximum activity.

Historical outbursts

Indeed, the Ursids are a very poorly-observed Northern Hemisphere shower which has produced at least two major outbursts in the past 70 years, in 1945 and 1986. Some events could have been missed due to weather conditions. Several lesser rate enhancements have been reported from 2006 to 2008, and in 2011, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2020, which might have been influenced by the relative proximity of the shower's parent comet, 8P/Tuttle, which circles the sun in a 13.6-year orbit and most recently swept past the sun in August 2021. And for some still unexplained reason, many Ursid peaks have occurred when comet Tuttle was not sweeping through the inner solar system, but rather at the far end of its orbit (aphelion), as far away from the sun as it can ge,t indicating that predictions are difficult.

Enhanced activity?

No unusually strong activity has been forecasted for 2025. However, a Dutch American meteor calculator, Peter Jenniskens, lists an encounter with a dense filament of meteoric material on Dec. 22, at 12:39 a.m. EST. An hourly rate of 25 listed by Jenniskens is similar to values indicated by him for the 2021—24 returns, although no such enhancements were reported by observers in those years. French meteor expert Jérémie Vaubaillon has performed calculations using computer simulations that show that the densest section of the stream is in the vicinity of the Earth on Dec. 22 at around 5:00 a.m. EST, but with no pronounced peak.

Still, if you're up before dawn breaks that morning, and if your skies are clear, you might want to step outside and check the northern sky. December's nearly new moon gives a perfect chance to end the year on a positive note, if skies are clear enough to see what the Ursids may do this time.

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, Sky and Telescope and other publications.

You can tune in to see live views of the Geminid meteor shower as it peaks overnight on Dec. 13-14, thanks to a free livestream hosted by the Virtual Telescope Project. The annual shower occurs as Earth passes through the debris-strewn orbit of the wandering asteroid (3200) Phaethon.

The livestream is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. EST (2100 GMT) on Dec. 13 on The Virtual Telescope Project's YouTube channel, weather permitting. Under perfect dark-sky conditions, you could see up to 150 meteors per hour near the peak, although most viewers will see fewer, especially from light-polluted areas.

If clouds conspire to ruin your view — or if you live in the southern hemisphere, where the shower isn't visible at all — the Virtual Telescope Project's Livestream will help ensure that you won't miss out on one of the most impressive natural light shows of the year.

The stream is set to run until dawn and will feature views from the organization's super-wide-angle all-sky camera located in Manciano, Italy, which, according to Virtual Telescope Project founder Gianluca Masi, is one of the darkest sky regions in the country.

How to look for Geminids

Look for Geminid meteors streaking away from a point of origin close to the bright star Castor in the constellation Gemini, which rises above the eastern horizon a few hours after sunset and remains visible throughout the night. As such, Geminid shooting stars can be spotted from mid-evening until dawn. Moonlight shouldn't spoil the show too badly this year, though a 26%-lit waning crescent moon rises an hour or two after midnight, which may make viewing slightly more challenging in the hours preceding sunrise.

Shooting stars become visible when particles shed by wandering comets or asteroids impact Earth's atmosphere and vaporize in brief flashes of light., If you're hoping to capture a photo of a meteor yourself, check out our guide to photographing shooting stars, along with our picks of the best cameras and lenses for imaging the night sky.

Editor's Note: If you capture a shooting star and want to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

The Geminid meteor shower peaks overnight tonight (Dec. 13-14), bringing with it the potential for a breathtaking display of shooting stars as Earth barrels through the debris trail shed by comet 3200 Phaethon.

Up to 150 Geminid meteors may brighten the night sky each hour as the shower hits its peak on Dec. 13-14, according to the American Meteor Society (AMS), though the number you'll actually see will depend on your viewing conditions and the time at which you go hunting for the cosmic visitors.

Shooting stars appear when particles from ancient comets and asteroids collide with Earth's atmosphere, burning up in a magnificent display that can be easily visible to the naked eye. A particle no larger than a grain of sand has the potential to create a beautiful, short-lived meteor, while larger fragments that can exceed 1 meter (3 feet) in size create magnificent "fireballs", which can blaze brighter than the planet Venus during their passage through the night sky.

How to see Geminid meteors

Geminid meteors appear to travel from a point of origin, or radiant, located close to the bright star Castor in the constellation Gemini, which rises above the Northern Hemisphere's eastern horizon in the hours following sunset on Dec. 13. It is from this constellation that the shower gets its name.

It will be possible to see Geminid meteors as soon as darkness falls and the radiant is above the horizon, though only a few meteors will be visible during this early period passing low in the northern and southern sky, heading westward. "The few meteors that do appear at this time are special in the fact that they just skim the atmosphere rather than penetrate deeply," said meteor expert Robert Lunsford in a post detailing observing tactics on the AMS website. "This allows them to last for several seconds rather than the normal sub-second duration."

A greater number of meteors will become visible after 10 p.m. local time, when up to 30 Geminids may be seen under dark sky conditions as the radiant soars higher in the autumn sky.

To see meteors with the longest trails, first locate the radiant by finding Castor with a smartphone astronomy app. If you need help finding it, you can first look for the planet Jupiter, which can be seen shining brightly in the constellation Gemini throughout December. Next, stake out a patch of sky 30-40 degrees above Castor, where the trails of shooting stars will be at their longest. Remember, the width of your clenched first accounts for approximately 10 degrees of sky, so this would be about three or four hand widths above Jupiter.

"As each hour passes, hourly rates will increase reaching maximum near 2 a.m.," continued Lunsford. "At this hour expect to see up to 60 Geminid meteors from dark rural sites." Things will get a little trickier when the 25%-lit waning crescent moon rises around 2 a.m. local time. Thankfully, it will still be possible to see many shooting stars brightening the sky around this time by keeping the lunar disk out of your field of view.

When hunting meteors, It's best to allow 30 minutes to allow your eyes to fully adapt to the dark and to use a red light where possible to preserve your night vision. Remember to dress warmly to make the experience enjoyable, and try to take a reclining chair or sleeping bag that will allow you to lie back and take in as much sky as possible in a comfortable position.

Photographers interested in capturing the shower should read our guide to imaging meteor showers, while those looking to upgrade their gear should read our roundups of the best astrophotography lenses and cameras for capturing the night sky.

Editor's Note: If you capture an image of a Geminid shooting star and want to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

The Geminid meteor shower, one of the most reliable and spectacular displays of the year, reaches peak activity overnight on Saturday, Dec. 13, into the early hours of Sunday, Dec. 14.

While Geminid meteors can be spotted throughout the night, the best time to watch is after midnight through the early hours before dawn, when rates are typically highest.

That is the best time, because the constellation Gemini, the shower's radiant, climbs higher in the sky as the night goes on. As Earth rotates into the oncoming stream of debris left behind by asteroid 3200 Phaethon, more meteors will streak across the sky. Under perfect dark sky conditions, eagle-eyed meteor hunters may be able to spot up to 150 meteors per hour.

Geminids will start appearing in the mid-evening, so you don't need to stay up all night to catch a glimpse of the show. Still, those who venture out in the early morning hours on Dec. 14 will have the best chance of catching brighter, longer meteor trails.

Where should you look to see Geminid meteors?

The Geminid meteor shower is named after the constellation from which the meteors appear to radiate, Gemini. The constellation sits northeast of Orion, between Taurus and Cancer. It is relatively easy to spot thanks to its two bright stars Castor and Pollux, marking the heads of the celestial twins.

That said, when looking for any meteor shower, never look directly at the radiant. Meteors near the radiant produce shorter streaks and are harder to see. Instead, look toward the darkest part of the sky, slightly away from the radiant, scanning nearby constellations for longer, more dramatic shooting stars.

For the best experience, remember to wrap up warm and allow your eyes at least 30 minutes to adjust to the dark. Then simply sit back, relax and enjoy one of the standout skywatching events of the year. Looking to capture a photograph of the Geminid meteor shower? Check out our how to photograph meteor shower guide for more information.

Editor's note: If you capture an amazing view of the Geminid meteor shower or any other night sky view that you would like to share with Space.com for a possible story, send images and comments to: spacephotos@space.com.

The Geminid meteor shower peaks this weekend on Dec. 13-14. If you're planning to watch from the U.S., the weather forecast could make or break your view. Here's what the skies and temperatures are expected to look like across the country.

It has been said on more than one occasion that if the Geminid meteor shower took place in a month with relatively mild nighttime temperatures, it would probably rival the Perseids in popularity. The Perseid meteor shower benefits from a long observing window (more than five weeks during the summer months of July and August when most people are on vacation in the Northern Hemisphere) and the comfortable observing temperatures enable everyone to enjoy this display without any problems. For this reason, the Perseids are the only meteor shower to have become well known among the public.

And yet, many experienced meteor observers consider the December Geminid meteor shower to be superior to the Perseids both in strength and beauty. Under a dark and wide-open view of the sky, a single observer might average two Geminid sightings per minute. Unfortunately, the "Gems" do not receive the attention they should receive from the public, mainly because they are visible for less than two weeks, and unlike the Perseids, they typically occur during cold weather.

Except this year, change that word "cold" to read FRIGID!

The good and the bad: Geminids weather forecast for the U.S.

This year, the peak of the Geminid meteor shower will occur during the predawn hours of Sunday, Dec. 14. The good news for prospective meteor observers is that about 75% of the country should enjoy good-to-excellent viewing conditions when the Geminids reach their maximum intensity.

Weather maps for early Sunday show a large and expansive area of high pressure, centered over the Central Great Plains, which should promote mainly clear skies from Wisconsin south to Arkansas and northern Mississippi and as far west as the Rocky Mountain states.

In contrast, a cold front, extending from southern Texas northeast to along the Atlantic Seaboard, is expected to generate widespread cloud cover for most locations in the eastern U.S. And a developing storm near the North Carolina coast may translate into rain and snow for the Middle Atlantic and Northeast U.S.

Meanwhile, another cold front, moving onshore from the Pacific coast, could bring cloudy, wet weather to much of Washington state and western Oregon.

But even for those places that will have clear skies, there will be a significant problem: Staying warm!

Numbs the word!

A surge of frigidly cold arctic air will settle into place over the Northern and Central Great Plains and the western Great Lakes. Check out the Sunday morning minimum temperature map, kindly provided by the National Weather Service. In this region, the forecast is for ambient (not wind chill) air temperatures in the subzero range with readings ranging from minus 1°F (minus 18°C) for Indianapolis, a gelid minus 3°F (minus 19°C) in Chicago, to a glacial minus 24°F (minus 33°C) at Fargo, North Dakota.

Even for the Deep South, northern Texas, and much of New Mexico, temperatures will stay below freezing. Probably the places with the most comfortable temperatures will be the southern portions of California and Arizona and parts of northern and central Florida, where, under clear-to-partly cloudy skies, temperatures will be in the comparatively mild 50's.

As was noted in a prior Space.com column, and especially considering this year's extremely cold conditions, you're likely going to be outside near the coldest time of the 24-hour temperature cycle. Under a wide-open, clear sky, lying on a long lawn chair or a blanket, radiational cooling chills you even more. And unlike most things you do outside in the cold, meteor observing is motionless. So, be sure that you're warm and comfortable. Heavy blankets, thick sleeping bags, ground cloths, auto cushions, and pillows are essential equipment. Try an electric heating pad inside your coat.

No two observers prepare for a meteor vigil the same way. It helps to take a late afternoon nap, a shower, and to wear fresh clothing. Hot cocoa, tea or coffee can take the edge off the chill, as well as provide a slight stimulus. And it's even better if you can observe with a companion. That way, you can keep each other awake, as well as cover more sky.

Your local forecast

We have also included a second map, from the National Weather Service, which is valid for 7 a.m. Eastern Time on Sunday, Dec. 14, which provides forecast percentages of sky (cloud) cover for dozens of locations across the contiguous U.S. The lower the percentage, the clearer the sky. You can break things down into four categories:

EXCELLENT: Cloud coverage ranges from clear to just a few clouds; generally, a sky cover of no more than 20%.

GOOD: Cloud coverage ranges from just a few clouds to scattered cloud cover; generally, 20% to no more than 40%.

FAIR: Cloud coverage ranges from scattered to broken cloud cover; generally, 40% to no more than 70%.

POOR: Cloud coverage ranges from 70% to complete overcast.

For any late updates in your local weather forecast, check with your local National Weather Service Forecast Office. Just click on your area on the map and you'll be taken to the NWS office that serves your area. Also, check here for the latest satellite imagery of your region courtesy of the GOES 16 weather satellite.

Final thoughts

If skies are clear Saturday night through Sunday morning, don't miss this year's Geminid display! A waning crescent moon will be in the sky during the predawn hours but its light will hardly disturb the Geminids. In the evening, the constellation Gemini, from where these meteors appear to emanate, is very low on the eastern horizon, but from midnight until around 4 a.m. Gemini attains a very favorable position almost directly overhead. The very high hourly rates, the richness in bright and moderately slow meteors, should motivate skywatchers to resist the cold.

Good luck and stay warm!

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, Sky and Telescope and other publications.

Stargazers rejoice! Dec. 4 marks the start of the annual Geminid meteor shower, as Earth passes through the trail of debris shed by the strange blue asteroid 3200 Phaethon, triggering what promises to be one of the most spectacular shooting star displays of 2025.

The Geminid meteor shower is active from Dec. 4 to Dec. 20 and hits peak activity overnight on Dec. 13-14, when up to 150 meteors may be seen brightening the night sky each hour under perfect conditions, according to the American Meteor Society. NASA, meanwhile, estimates that 40 to 50 meteors may be visible each hour around the point of peak activity.

Shooting stars appear when shreds of space debris ranging in size from a grain of sand to a small asteroid collide with Earth while travelling at tens of thousands of miles per hour, only to burn up in a fiery naked-eye display as they're overwhelmed by the friction of atmospheric entry.

Geminid meteors will appear to streak away from a patch of sky in the constellation Gemini close to the bright star Castor, which can be found rising above the eastern horizon a few hours after sunset in December, shining to the upper right of the gas giant Jupiter.

Shooting stars associated with the shower tend to be yellowish in appearance and may be seen whenever the radiant — the apparent origin point for the meteors — is above the horizon. However, the best time to hunt for Geminids will be in the pristinely dark moonless skies in the hours following 10 p.m. local time on the peak night of Dec. 13.

First, locate the magnitude-1.58 star Castor using a smartphone astronomy app and find a patch of sky roughly 40 degrees above it, where the meteor trails will be at their longest as they blaze through Earth's atmosphere. Remember, the width of your clenched fist held at arm's length accounts for roughly 10 degrees in the night sky.

If possible, try to head away from city lights and allow 20 to 30 minutes for your eyes to become fully adapted to the dark. Take a red light with you, as this will help preserve your night vision, and be sure to wrap up warm and let someone know where you're watching the shower from if you're heading somewhere remote! The waning crescent moon will rise at around 2 a.m. local time on Dec. 14, making it more of a challenge to spot fainter members of the annual shower.

Interested in capturing a Geminid shooting star for yourself? Then be sure to check out our guide to imaging meteor showers, along with our pick of the best cameras and lenses and our handy roundup of the best Black Friday deals if you're looking to upgrade your gear.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your shooting star photography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Heads up stargazers! The Leonid meteor shower peaks tonight, bringing a flurry of shooting stars to the night sky as Earth passes through the trail of debris shed by comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle.

The Leonid meteor shower is active from Nov. 3 to Dec 2 and peaks overnight on Nov. 16-17, when up to 10 meteors per hour may be visible radiating from a patch of sky in the constellation Leo, according to the American Meteor Society.

Meteors, or "shooting stars" occur when fragments of ancient comets slam into Earth's atmosphere at tens of thousands of miles per hour, burning up in a brilliant fiery display. Larger pieces can give rise to brilliant fireballs, which can outshine even the brightest planets in the night sky.

What time should I look for the Leonids?

The best time to look for Leonids is late at night on Nov. 16 through to the hours preceding dawn on Nov. 17, when the constellation Leo will be positioned high above the eastern horizon, with Jupiter shining brightly to its upper right. Look for a patch of sky roughly 40 degrees above the radiant in Leo, that's roughly the width of four clenched fists held at arm's length, where the meteor trails will be at their longest.

"On the morning of November 17th I would expect observers of the Leonid shower to see 5-10 meteors per hour," Robert Lunsford of the American Meteor Society told Space.com in an email. "It falls off rapidly, [so] I would expect rates of only 5 [shooting stars] per hour on the following morning and another 50 percent drop off on each of the following mornings."

Be sure to wear warm clothing to combat the cold and allow at least 30 minutes for your eyes to adjust fully to the dark, to give yourself the best chance of spotting fainter members of the annual shower. Try to use a red light if you need to look around, as this will help keep your night vision intact over a standard flashlight!

The Leonid meteor shower is known for producing spectacular meteor storms on occasion, when hundreds, or even thousands of meteors can be seen brightening the night sky each hour. Sadly, Earth isn't due to pass through a particularly dense cloud of cometary debris from 55P/Tempel-Tuttle until the year 2099.

Want to photograph a shooting star? Then be sure to check out our guide to imaging meteor showers, along with our roundups of the best cameras and lenses available for astrophotography in 2025.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your meteor images with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Probably the most famous of the annual meteor showers will soon be reaching its maximum: The Leonids. These ultrafast meteors are expected to be at their best for North American on Tuesday morning (Nov. 18).

The Leonid meteor shower are known for producing some of the most amazing meteor displays in the annals of astronomy. Most notable are meteor storms such as in 1799, 1833 and 1966 when meteor rates of tens of thousands per hour were observed. More recently, in 1999, 2001 and 2002, lesser Leonid displays of up "only" a few thousand meteors per hour took place.

Unfortunately, the negative impact of those turn-of-the-century Leonid showers is that many stargazers were given the impression that they can expect a similar occurrence of celestial fireworks from the Leonids every year. So, it is important to stress right here at the outset that any suggestion of a spectacular meteor Leonid display this year is, to put it mildly, overly optimistic. So, should you be expecting a memorable sky show early on Tuesday morning, we're sorry to break this to you, but the 2025 version of the Leonids, are more than likely going to be a disappointment, since they probably will be weak and there likely will be long stretches when not a single one will be seen.

Comet crumbs

The Leonids received their moniker because the shower's emanation point — from where the meteors seem to fan out — is located within the constellation of Leo, the Lion, from within the backward question mark pattern of stars known as "The Sickle." The meteors are caused by periodic comet Tempel-Tuttle, which sweeps through the inner solar system every 33⅓ years. Each time the comet passes closest to the sun it leaves a "river of rubble" in its wake; a dense trail of dusty debris. A meteor storm becomes possible only if the Earth were to score a direct hit on a fresh dust trail ejected by the comet over the past couple of centuries.

The "lion's share" (no pun intended) of comet dust can be found just ahead and trailing behind Tempel-Tuttle. That comet last swept through the inner solar system in 1998. That's why spectacular meteor showers were seen in 1999, 2001 and 2002, with declining numbers thereafter.

In 2016 Tempel-Tuttle reached aphelion, that point in its orbit, as far from the sun as it can get: 1.84 billion miles (2.96 billion km). Now the comet is on its way back toward the sun and inner solar system and will sweep closest to the sun again in May 2031.

Slim pickings in 2025

But it's also, in the general vicinity of the comet where the heaviest concentrations of meteoroids are as well. In contrast, at the point in the comet's orbit where we will be passing by on Tuesday morning, there's only a scattering of particles; bits of comet debris that crumbled off the comet's frozen nucleus perhaps a millennia or two ago.

So, the 2025 Leonids are expected to show only low activity this year. According to a highly regarded Russian expert in meteor shower predictions, Mikhail Maslov, his forecasts indicate peak Leonid activity of approximately 15 meteors per hour during the time frame from 18:00 UT on Nov.17 to 00:00 UT on Nov. 18. That interval would favor central and eastern Asia, including Japan.

During that same interval, Maslov is also suggesting an interaction with a trail of meteoroids expelled by comet Tempel-Tuttle in 1699. Maslov cautions that many of these tiny particles will likely be blown away by solar radiation pressure. "However," he adds, "Some larger particles still could be present so the number of bright meteors could increase during the period from 18 to 23 hours UT."

Again, this timeframe favors central and eastern Asia.

For North America, the best time to look will be before dawn on Tuesday, Nov. 18. By then, the Leonids will be past their peak intensity, and will probably not produce more than 5 to 10 meteors per hour.

The moon — just a narrow crescent — is just a couple of days from new and will pose no interference whatsoever. But be mindful that Leonids are expected to dart across your line of sight on an average of once every 6 to 12 minutes. And that's only assuming you have a wide-open view of the entire sky and are blessed with dark, non-light polluted conditions.

How to observe and what to look for

Watching a meteor shower is a relatively straightforward pursuit. It consists of lying back, looking up at the sky and waiting. Keep in mind that any local light pollution or obstructions like tall trees or buildings will further reduce your chances of making a meteor sighting.

Leo does not start coming fully into view until the after-midnight hours, so that would be the best time to concentrate on looking for Leonids. As dawn is about to break at around 5 a.m. local time, The Sickle will have climbed more than two-thirds of the way up from the southeast horizon to the point directly overhead (called the zenith).

Also, because the Leonids are moving along in their orbit around the sun in a direction opposite to that of Earth, they slam into our atmosphere nearly head-on, resulting in the fastest meteor velocities possible: 45 miles (72 km) per second. Such speeds tend to produce bright meteors, which leave long-lasting streaks or vapor trains in their wake.

A mighty Leonid fireball can be quite spectacular, but such outstandingly bright meteors are likely to be very few and very far between this year (if any are seen at all).

A look ahead

The good news is that as Comet Tempel-Tuttle draws closer to the sun, the Leonids are expected to slowly improve. But the very best years of the next Leonid cycle won't come until 2034 and 2035, when hourly rates in the many hundreds per hour may be possible.

But if you can't wait until then, here's some good news: A far more prolific meteor shower is coming our way in less than a month: the December Geminids, now considered to be the best meteor shower of the year, producing over 100 per hour. They are expected to peak during the overnight hours of Dec. 13-14. Space.com of course, will provide you with all the details as we get closer to that date. So, stay tuned!

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, Sky and Telescope and other publications.

If the skies are clear these next few nights, take a few moments to look up. You just might be lucky and catch a glimpse of a spectacularly bright meteor — a Taurid meteor streaking across the sky.

While most meteor shower displays last about a week, the Taurids have perhaps the longest duration of overall visibility. Meteors from this particular stream begin appearing in mid-October and continue into right on mid-November. Nov. 5 through Nov. 12 is traditionally the time frame when these slow and majestic meteors are at their best.

Unfortunately, in 2025, this display has — so far — been seriously hindered by the presence of a brilliant moon. The moon turned full Nov. 5 with brilliant moonlight flooding the sky much of the night, and pretty much washing out all but the brightest meteors. Thereafter, however, the moon has been setting later in the evening and has been slowly waning in brightness. Last quarter is this coming Wednesday (Nov. 12) and thereafter the moon will be a progressively thinning crescent.

So, with each passing night, the moon has been rising about an hour later and the window of dark sky hours (prior to moonrise) has opened a little wider. This Wednesday night (Nov. 12) is probably the best night to watch, as there will be about 4 hours of dark, moonless skies to look for Taurids. Moonrise will come just after midnight, early Thursday morning.

Each evening, up until the time the moon comes above the horizon, up to about 15 meteors may appear per hour. They are often yellowish-orange and, as meteors go, appear to move rather slowly. Their name comes from the way they seem to radiate from the constellation Taurus, the Bull, which sits low in the east a couple of hours after sundown and is almost directly overhead by around 1:30 a.m.

Meteors — popularly referred to as "shooting stars" — are generated when debris enters and burns up in Earth's atmosphere. In the case of the Taurids, they are attributed to debris left behind by Comet Encke, which are noticeably larger fragments than those shed by other comets, which is why this meteor stream occasionally delivers a few unusually bright meteors known as "fireballs." Encke's has the shortest known orbital period for a comet, taking only 3.3 years to make one complete trip around the sun. Many fireballs reported in the months of October and November belong to this stream. A field mark of the Taurids is that they are among the slowest of meteors, encountering Earth at only 17 miles (27 km) per second.

Related: Astronomer captures 2 meteors slamming into the moon

The related meteors appear to diverge from a spot on the sky just to the south of the Pleiades. So, if during these next few nights, you catch sight of a slightly tinted orange meteor sliding rather lazily away from that famous little smudge of stars, you can feel sure you've just caught sight of a Taurid.

Don't forget the Leonids!

The Taurids are not the only significant meteor display in November. We can also look forward to the famous Leonid meteors, which are due to reach their peak on Tuesday morning, Nov. 18. The moon will be just a couple of days from new, making this a very favorable year to watch for these ultra-swift streaks of light that will appear to emanate from out of the Sickle of the constellation Leo. The Sickle is rising in the northeast around midnight and will stand high in the south-southeast at the break of dawn. Unlike the Taurids, the Leonids last less than a week, with maximum hourly counts near 10, though this varies from year to year. Stupendous meteor storms are possible around the years when the Leonids parent-comet, 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, sweeps through the inner solar system. The comet's next visit to the sun's vicinity is not due until the year 2031. Many meteor experts believe that we'll be in line for another major outburst of Leonids in November 2034. That's nine years from now . . . so mark your calendars.

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, Sky and Telescope and other publications.

Heads up stargazers! The Southern Taurid meteor shower peaks overnight on Nov. 4-5, when a flurry of bright meteors could potentially be seen streaking through Earth's sky as our planet passes through the outer edge of a debris swarm shed by the wandering comet 2P/Encke.

Shooting stars are seen when shards of ancient comets collide with Earth's atmosphere at tens of thousands of miles per hour, which swiftly burn up in a magnificent display as they're overwhelmed by the friction created by collisions with air molecules in the atmosphere. The Southern Taurids are known for producing spectacular fireballs, as particularly large pieces of interplanetary debris can slam into our planet that can produce meteors that can momentarily turn night to day as they flare to life in the night sky.

2025 happens to be a "swarm year" for the Southern Taurids, which could see the shower put on a particularly impressive show during the Nov. 4-5 peak, when up to 10 bright meteors may be visible each hour, sharing the skies with a near-full moon. However, the light from the moon may mean that only the brightest meteors will be visible.

Swarm years are thought to occur as Earth passes through a region of Encke's debris trail containing a mass of particularly large commentary fragments. "We encounter these larger meteors about twice a decade at irregular intervals," American Meteor Society expert Robert Lunsford told Space.com in an email. "Normal Taurid particles are usually the size of pea gravel with a few larger particles mixed in. The swarm particles are only the size of baseballs up to basketballs, but will appear as fireballs from the ground instead of normal meteors."

A good time to look out for Southern Taurid meteors is in the hours following midnight on the days surrounding the shower's peak, according to EarthSky.org. Shooting stars associated with the shower will be visible streaking away from a point of origin called a radiant located in the constellation Taurus, which rises above the horizon shortly after sunset and climbs to its highest point in the southern sky in the hours following midnight.

Try to allow 30 minutes for your eyes to fully adjust to the dark - while attempting to avoid staring directly at the moon - and pick out a patch of sky 40 degrees above the constellation Taurus, where the meteor trails will be the longest. Remember, the width of your clenched fist held at arm's length accounts for roughly 10 degrees in the night sky.

Lunsford notes that Earth is passing through the outer edge of the swarm during the 2025 Southern Taurid peak, which will likely provide a less spectacular show compared to the previous swarm event in 2022. "So far though, fireball activity in October has been higher than normal, indicating that we may have underestimated the strength of this year's display," continued Lunsford. "Too bad a full moon occurs during the prime portion of this display. "

The next Southern Taurid swarm isn't due to occur until 2032, so be sure to look up on Nov. 4-5 for a chance to catch a spectacular natural light show. Astronomers interested in capturing a fireball as it streaks through the night sky should read our guide to imaging shooting stars, along with our roundups of the best cameras and lenses for astrophotography.

Editor's Note: If you would capture a photo of a Taurid meteor and want to share it with Space.com's readers, then please send your image(s), comments, name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

The Orionid meteor shower peaked on the nights of Oct. 21-23, delighting lucky stargazers with a gorgeous natural fireworks display as debris from Halley's Comet collided with Earth's atmosphere to create fiery shooting stars in the night sky.

Photographer Osama Fathi was among these lucky skywatchers, and captured a spectacular view of Orionid meteors streaking through the sky over Lake Qarun in Egypt on Oct. 19, as the shower ramped up activity ahead of its 3-day peak.

"This composite image combines a few meteor frames captured over three hours from Qatrani, near the northern edge of the lake," Fathi told Space.com in an email. "Out of more than 200 photos taken during the session, only a handful of bright meteors aligned gracefully near the constellation Orion — visible at the center right of the frame."

Fathi's composite skyscape was created by combining a three-minute exposure of the night sky with multiple 10-second shots of meteors captured using a Nikon Z6 camera fitted with a 14-24 mm Nikkor lens.

The peak of the 2025 Orionid meteor shower coincided with October's new moon phase, which presented stargazers with a magnificently dark night sky in which even the faintest shooting stars could be spotted flaring to life against the starfield beyond.

If clouds conspired to ruin your view during the Oct. 21-23 peak, there's no need to worry, as there'll be plenty more shooting stars to see in the coming days, according to Robert Lunsford of the American Meteor Society. "Rates will fall very slowly after these dates so the mornings of October 24-26 will still provide hourly rates in excess of 10 per hour when viewing from rural dark skies," Lunsford told Space.com in an email. "Note by then the radiant will have moved eastward into western Gemini so folks should not be surprised to see these meteors shooting from that constellation instead of Orion".

Photographers interested in capturing their own shooting stars should check out our guide to imaging meteor showers, along with our roundups of the top cameras and lenses for astrophotography.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Onlookers were dazzled on the night of Oct. 16 when a bright green fireball blazed earthward in the skies over several Eastern Seaboard U.S. states, leaving a short-lived glowing trail in its wake as it streaked earthward before flaring and disappearing as it neared the horizon.

As if that wasn't spectacular enough, a video of the event captured from North Branford, Connecticut appeared to show a second bright meteor moving in perfect formation with the fireball, before disappearing at the exact same moment as it approached Earth's surface.

The seemingly incredible event appeared to repeat a day later on Oct. 17, when yet another fireball was observed blazing through the skies over North Branford — albeit from a different location — accompanied by a second meteor moving in absolute harmony. Were these rare 'double' meteors, or just a trick of the light?

According to fireball expert Robert Lunsford of the American Meteor Society, these double fireball events may have been nothing more than an optical illusion of sorts created by anti-fogging measures fitted to the outside of the skywatching camera systems.

"These fireballs were captured by the same type of camera systems which are prone to produce "double fireballs" on the brightest events," Lunsford told Space.com in an email. "These cameras are housed under a clear acrylic dome that are probably the cause of these double events. You will notice that the secondary fireballs are in the exact same place in relation to the main event in both videos."

So, if you see spectacular videos of double fireballs circulating online, know that it may just be a trick of the light.

Be sure to check out our handy guide to photographing fast-moving meteors, along with our roundups of the best lenses and cameras for astrophotography if you're interested in capturing your own shot of a dramatic fireball event!

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Get ready stargazers! The Orionid meteor shower peak begins tonight, welcoming a spectacular natural light show that could see a flurry of shooting stars spawned by Halley's Comet brighten the dark, moonless sky.

The 2025 Orionid meteor shower peak begins overnight on Oct. 20-21, when 10-20 shooting stars may be visible streaking across the night sky from a point of origin known as a "radiant", located close to the red star Betelgeuse in the constellation Orion.

While tonight is the peak, Orionid shooting stars can be seen from Oct. 2 to Nov. 7 as Earth passes through the debris trail shed by comet 1P/Halley. During that time, particles cast off from that ancient body collide with our planet at speeds of up to 41 miles per second (66 kilometers per second), burning up in a magnificent display as they're overwhelmed by the friction of atmospheric entry.

One of the best times to spot Orionid meteors will be in the pre-dawn hours of Oct. 21, when the constellation Orion will be positioned high above the southern horizon in a moonless sky for viewers in the U.S. The shower peaks around the monthly new moon phase, meaning that there'll be no natural light pollution to ruin the cosmic show.

First, locate the red star Betelgeuse using a smartphone astronomy app. Then, pick a patch of sky 40 degrees away in the direction of your local zenith, which is the point directly above your head. Remember, the width of your outstretched fist accounts for roughly 10 degrees in the night sky! Here, the meteor trails will be at their longest.

Be sure to allow 20-30 minutes for your eyes to adapt to the dark, and use a red light if needed in order to avoid ruining your night vision. Don't forget, we're in astronomical autumn now, so be sure to wrap up warm and to let someone know where you're observing from if you head to a remote dark sky location.

Robert Lunsford of the American Meteor Society notes that there will still be plenty of meteor activity after the peak starts, so there's no need to worry if clouds appear to ruin the show that first early morning show! "The Orionids will peak in the period of October 21-23," Lunsford told Space.com in an email. "Rates will fall very slowly after these dates so the mornings of October 24-26 will still provide hourly rates in excess of 10 per hour when viewing from rural dark skies. Note by then the radiant will have moved eastward into western Gemini so folks should not be surprised to see these meteors shooting from that constellation instead of Orion".

The Orionids aren't the only meteor shower active over the coming weeks. Both the Northern Taurid and Southern Taurid meteor streams are currently active, which could give rise to spectacular fireball events in the period leading up to their separate peaks in early November.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

If you happen to glimpse a "shooting star" before dawn during the next several days, there's a good chance that what you saw was a fragment left behind in space by the famous Halley's Comet. For it is during the third week of October that a meteor display spawned by the debris shed by Halley reaches its peak: the Orionid meteor shower.

The Orionids aren't one of the year's richest meteor displays. If the August Perseids and December Geminids can be considered the "first string" among the annual meteor showers in terms of brightness and reliability, then the Orionids are on the junior varsity team.

And this will be an excellent year to look for them, since the moon will arrive at new phase on Tuesday morning, Oct. 21 at the very same time that the Orionids are reaching their maximum and hence will not pose any hindrance at all for those watching for these fiery streaks during their prime predawn viewing hours. Perfect!

The meteor moniker "Orionid" comes from the fact that the radiant — that spot on the sky from where the meteors appear to fan out from — is just above Orion's second brightest star, ruddy Betelgeuse.

Orion, of course, is a winter constellation. At this moment, in early autumn, he appears ahead of us in our path around the sun, and as such has not completely risen above the eastern horizon until after 11:00 p.m. local daylight time. Several hours later, between 4 and 5:00 a.m. — Orion will be high in the sky toward the south-southeast. The higher in the sky Orion is, the more meteors will appear all over the sky. The Orionids are one of just a handful of known meteor showers that can be observed equally well from both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.

But to see the greatest number of meteors, don't look in the direction of the radiant, but rather about 30 degrees from it, in the direction of the point directly overhead (the zenith). Your clenched fist held at arm's length is roughly equivalent to 10 degrees, so looking "three fists" up from Betelgeuse will be where to concentrate your view.

Halley's legacy

As noted at the onset of this discussion, the Orionids have an illustrious lineage: Like the Eta Aquariid meteors of early May, they are bits of debris shed long ago by Halley's Comet. The two showers are essentially one and the same; Earth intersects a single, broad stream of meteoroids at two places in its orbit on opposite sides of the sun. Typically, like the Eta Aquarids, Orionid meteors are normally dim and not well seen from urban locations, so it's suggested that you find a dark (and safe) rural location to see the best Orionid activity.

"They are easily identified ... from their speed," write David Levy and Stephen Edberg in Observe: Meteors, an Astronomical League manual. "At 66 kilometers (41 miles) per second, they appear as fast streaks, faster by a hair than their sisters, the Eta Aquarids of May. And like the Eta Aquarids, the brightest tend to leave long-lasting trains. Fireballs are possible three days after maximum." This aspect is undoubtedly connected in some way to the makeup of Halley's Comet.

The shower is actually a complex of several sub-showers with different maxima spread over several days. Halley's Comet's last visit through the inner solar system was in the late winter of 1986 and it is due back in the midsummer of 2061. But each time it has swept past the sun — and it has done so probably countless hundreds, if not thousands of times — it has released tiny particles, mostly ranging in size from dust to sand grains, which travel near and along the comet's orbit, creating a dirty trail of debris that has been distributed more or less uniformly all along its entire orbit.

The comet bits have also spread a fair distance from it sideways, which is why some of the particles now intersect the Earth even though the comet's orbit does not. About the year 530 A.D. Halley's orbit intersected that of the Earth. Presently, the least distance between the two orbits is 6,042,000 miles (9,710,000 km).

Observing tips

Orionid visibility extends from Oct. 16 to 26, with peak activity of perhaps 15 to 30 meteors per hour coming on the morning of Oct. 21. Step outside before sunrise on any of these mornings and if you catch sight of a meteor, there's about a 75 percent chance that it likely is a by-product of Halley's Comet. The last Orionid stragglers usually appear sometime in early to mid-November.

Be sure to bundle up very warmly; perhaps bring a sleeping bag. Find a dark spot with an open view of the sky. The less light pollution, the better; a shower like this one that's rich in faint meteors is especially hard hit by artificial skyglow. The direction to watch is wherever your sky is darkest. Lie back, let your eyes adapt to the night, and be patient.

Good luck and clear skies!

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, Sky and Telescope and other publications.

A fireball meteor flared to life above the southern U.S. on Oct. 14, briefly turning night to day as it blazed through the sky before fragmenting as it neared the horizon.

The brilliant green fireball lit up the skies over several states including Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama at 3:11 a.m. EDT (0711 GMT) on Oct. 14, casting long shadows as it streaked earthwards before visibly breaking apart as it was overwhelmed by the friction of atmospheric entry. Its fiery passage was documented in videos captured by smart doorbells, security cameras and dashcams, which were subsequently uploaded to the American Meteor Society (AMS) website.

"This fireball was most likely a member of the South Taurid meteor shower which is active during October and November," Robert Lunsford, Journal Editor at the AMS told Space.com in an email. "Fireballs are common from this shower, but they usually occur during the last week of October and the first week of November."

Earth is currently passing through two distinct debris streams shed by the solar system Comet 2P/Encke that give rise to the Northern and Southern Taurid meteor showers, which are known for producing a slight uptick in spectacular fireball events around this time of year.

"Fragments from Comet Encke and all comets in general are very fragile and will disintegrate while still high in the atmosphere," continued Lunsford. "So, there is no chance of any meteorites making it to the ground from this fireball if it was indeed a Taurid fireball."

The Southern Taurid and Northern Taurid meteor showers are due to peak on the nights of Nov. 4-5 and Nov. 11-12, respectively, during which up to five meteors might be visible streaking across the sky each hour, under ideal dark sky conditions. Unfortunately, the Southern Taurid stream will crescendo under the light of a full moon, which will obscure fainter shooting stars.

Astrophotographers interested in capturing a Taurid meteor should read our guide on how to photograph meteors and meteor showers, along with our roundups of the best cameras and lenses for imaging the night sky.

Editor's Note: If you capture an image of a fireball and want to share it with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Two annual meteor streams are due to become active in the coming week that have the potential to spawn dramatic fireballs in the runup to their November peaks.

As their names suggest, meteors from both the Southern Taurid and Northern Taurid meteor showers appear to emanate from a point of origin in the constellation Taurus, which can be found rising in the eastern sky in the hours preceding midnight throughout October. They also share a common parent in the form of the wandering comet 2P/Encke, which sheds debris in a vast loop as it traverses its 3.3-year orbit around the sun. When Earth travels through this debris, particles of dust and other matter heat up due to the friction of our planet's atmosphere and create the fiery spectacles we see in the sky.

The Northern Taurids become active on Oct. 20 and are forecast to crescendo overnight on Nov. 11-12, while the Southern Taurids have been in play since Sept. 20 and are expected to peak during the night of Nov. 4-5.

Stargazers could see up to 5 meteors per hour during each period of peak activity under ideal dark sky conditions, though the light of a full moon will likely blot out dimmer meteors during the Southern Taurid peak. What makes the Taurid meteor streams truly exciting is their potential to occasionally birth magnificent fireballs capable of briefly turning night to day as they flare in the post-sunset sky.

The southern and northern Taurids are born of the same highly dispersed debris cloud. The periods when both are active have been known to correspond with a significant uptick in fireball activity, according to the American Meteor Society.

A fireball is the name given to a particularly bright meteor that outshines even the planet Venus in the night sky. They often leave pronounced trails in their wake and are created when an object ranging from a few inches to several feet collides with our atmosphere.

Feeling the itch to photograph the night sky? Then check out our roundups of the best cameras and lenses for astrophotography, along with our guide to imaging fast moving meteors and fireballs.

Editor's Note: If you snap an image of a fireball and want to share it with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.