If you want to get into stargazing in 2025, there’s no better place to start than viewing a meteor shower. Meteor showers, or shooting stars, happen when Earth’s orbital path crosses a path of debris left by a comet and that material burns up in the Earth’s atmosphere. Watching a meteor shower is one of the most accessible ways to engage with the night sky.
The first shower of the year is the Quadrantids, which peaks overnight on January 2–3 but will be visible until mid-January. The Quadrantids is just one of nine major meteor showers that will grace skies in 2025, and details of when they will appear in the northern hemisphere are listed below—so mark your calendar for these.
How to Watch a Meteor Shower
You don’t need any special equipment to see a meteor shower—in fact, using devices like binoculars or telescopes actually prevents you from seeing meteors, because they travel too fast to be seen through the lenses of such equipment. All you need are your eyes, a dark sky with little to no moonlight, and a location that’s away from excess light, as moonlight and light pollution can wash out shooting stars.
Note that the moon appears (rises) and disappears (sets) in the night sky at different times depending on what time zone you are in. All moonrise/moonset times in this piece are for the eastern US—you can use tools like Time and Date’s moonrise/moonset calendar or this tool from the US Naval Observatory to check the precise moonrise/moonset times in your exact location.
You should allow your eyes about half an hour to adjust to the darkness. If you need to use a flashlight while outside, use one with red light instead of white to preserve your night vision.
Each meteor shower is named after its radiant, or the constellation that the shower appears to come from. A meteor shower’s radiant usually needs to be above the horizon before you can see the meteors. You don’t need to look directly at the radiant to see meteors; shooting stars will be visible throughout the entire sky once the radiant has risen.
If you need help finding a shower’s radiant, you can use an app like Stellarium, which can also tell you when the radiant will be above the horizon in your exact location. If you really want to maximize the number of meteors you’ll see, you should watch the sky when the shower’s radiant reaches its highest point in the sky. However, you don’t need to wait until the radiant is at its highest to enjoy the show—as long as the radiant is above the horizon, you should be able to see plenty of shooting stars.
The Next Big Shower: The Quadrantids
The Quadrantids started appearing on December 26, 2024, and will last until January 16, 2025, peaking overnight on January 2–3. This meteor shower has a sharp peak, meaning that most of its activity occurs in a narrow window of time, so you won’t want to miss your opportunity to observe the night sky on January 2. The Quadrantids typically produce many fireball meteors—that is, meteors that are very bright—with up to 120 meteors per hour during the shower’s peak.
On the night of January 2–3, the moon will be about 9 percent illuminated and will set around 8 pm in the eastern US and several hours earlier in Europe, so viewing conditions will be perfect from a light perspective. However, cloud cover is likely to obscure viewing across central Europe as well as the Northwest and Midwest of the US, though visibility should be good in other parts of the US as well as across most of the UK. You can check local cloud conditions here.
The Quadrantids’ radiant is the constellation Quadrans Muralis, though the International Astronomical Union no longer recognizes this group of stars as a constellation. In its place is the constellation Boötes, which is next to the Big Dipper. The Quadrantids’ radiant doesn’t peak above the horizon until just after midnight, and it reaches its highest point just before dawn.
Coming Up Later in 2025
The Lyrids (April)
The Lyrids are active from April 15 to April 30. This meteor shower’s peak lasts three nights, centered on April 21–22. You can expect to see about 15 to 20 meteors per hour under ideal viewing conditions during the Lyrids’ peak. Under optimal viewing conditions, the stargazing website Earth Sky notes, about a quarter of Lyrids shooting stars produce persistent trains—lingering streaks of light that are the result of gases being ionized as the meteors enter Earth’s atmosphere.
The Lyrids’ radiant, the constellation Hercules, rises well before midnight, so meteors will be visible all night, but you’ll likely see the most just before dawn, when the radiant reaches its highest point in the sky.
The moon will be about 33 percent illuminated during the early morning hours of April 22. If you watch this meteor shower around midnight, you’ll have perfect viewing conditions, because the moon doesn’t rise until approximately 4 am in the eastern US.
The Eta Aquariids (April–May)
The Eta Aquariids are active from about April 19 to May 28. This meteor shower does not have a sharp peak: Elevated activity will last about a week, centered on the night of May 5–6, when the strongest activity will occur.
In the northern hemisphere, the Eta Aquariids are a medium-strength shower that produces about 10 to 30 meteors per hour. According to the American Meteor Society, many of these meteors produce persistent trains. One other thing that makes the Eta Aquariids extra-special is that these meteors are actually remnants of the famous Halley’s Comet.
The Eta Aquariids’ radiant, the constellation Aquarius, will be very low in the sky in the northern hemisphere and won’t start to peak above the eastern horizon until after 2 am local time. You should still be able to see meteors from this shower even when the radiant is just below the horizon, according to the UK’s Royal Museums Greenwich.
Unfortunately, the moon will be transitioning from a waxing crescent (about 31 percent illuminated) to a waxing gibbous (about 92 percent illuminated) during the week that this meteor shower peaks, so if you watch around midnight, moonlight will blot out some of the dimmer shooting stars.
There’s plenty of opportunity to view this meteor shower under a moonless sky, however, if you view it shortly before dawn. For example, although on May 5–6 the moon will be about 71 percent illuminated, it will set around 3:30 am in the US.
The Southern Delta Aquariids (July–August)
The Southern Delta Aquariids are active from about July 12 to August 23, producing peak activity for about a week centered on July 29–30. Unlike some other meteor showers, the Southern Delta Aquariids don’t have a sharp peak. Instead, the number of meteors per hour gradually increases and then slowly decreases during the period of activity.
Fortunately, the last week and a half of July will yield perfect viewing conditions: The new moon falls on July 23, so there will be little to no moonlight on the nights surrounding this date—plus, in the US the moon will set by midnight until the first couple nights of August, so there is ample opportunity to observe this meteor shower under moonless skies.
On July 26, the approximate start date for the Southern Delta Aquariids’ peak activity, the moon will be about 4 percent illuminated and will set around 10 pm. During the midpoint of the Southern Delta Aquariids’ peak, on July 29–30, the moon will be about 24 percent illuminated and set at about 11 pm. Toward the end of the Southern Delta Aquariids’ peak, on the night of August 2–3, the moon will be about 70 percent full and will set around 1 am.
In other words, the best time to view the shower will probably be in the lead-up to its peak rather than afterward. After the peak, observing conditions will suddenly deteriorate in the first week of August, when the moon will be almost full and won’t set until the early morning hours.
The Southern Delta Aquariids’ radiant is the constellation Aquarius, which rises around 10 pm local time and reaches its highest point in the sky around 3 am.
Although this meteor shower typically yields meteors that are somewhat dimmer and do not have persistent trains, this meteor shower is still worthwhile: You’ll be able to see about 25 shooting stars per hour in ideal viewing conditions.
The Perseids (July–August)
The Perseids are active from about July 17 to August 23, peaking overnight on August 12–13.
The Perseids are one of the strongest and brightest meteor showers of the year, producing 100 to 150 meteors per hour under dark skies. However, the number of meteors drops off sharply after the peak.
The Perseids often yield bright fireball meteors, and about a third of the Perseids have persistent trains. Shooting stars in this shower are also known for being particularly colorful: Most have a green or bluish color, but these meteors can produce yellow, red, purple, or pink hues as well.
Unfortunately, the Perseids will peak just a few nights after the full moon. On August 12–13, the moon will be about 86 percent illuminated and will rise around 10 pm in the US, so viewing conditions will be poor.
However, the Perseids are quite bright, so it might still be worth it to catch this meteor shower. If you do plan on watching, find a spot where the moonlight is blocked out as much as possible.
The Perseids appear to radiate from the constellation Perseus, which rises around 11 pm local time and will be highest in the sky just before dawn.
The Orionids (September–November)
The Orionids are active from around September 26 to November 22. According to the stargazing website Starwalk, the Orionids have a gradual peak due to the angle at which Earth crosses the path of this trail of comet debris. The Orionids produce peak activity for about a week, centered on the night of October 21–22.
The Orionids typically yield about 20 to 25 meteors per hour during their peak and are known for being particularly bright—many of the Orionids are fireball meteors. Like the Eta Aquariids, the Orionids are also debris left behind by Halley’s Comet.
The Orionids appear to radiate from the constellation Orion, which rises around 11 pm local time and is highest in the sky just before dawn.
The new moon falls on the night of October 21–22, and in the surrounding week the moon will set well before midnight, so you will have perfect viewing conditions to see this meteor shower.
The Leonids (November–December)
The Leonids are active from about November 3 to December 2. They have a sharp peak, producing the most meteors overnight from November 16 to November 17, according to the American Meteor Society. Other organizations, however, predict that this shower will peak from November 17 to November 18. During the Leonids’ peak, you can expect to see about 15 meteors per hour under dark skies.
Although the Leonids produce fewer meteors than many other of the major meteor showers, they are known for producing fast-moving, bright, fireball meteors.
The Leonids peak just before the new moon—on the morning of November 18, the moon will be just 6 percent illuminated and in the eastern US won’t rise until around 5 am on November 17, so you’ll have ample time to see this meteor shower under perfect viewing conditions.
The Leonids’ radiant is the constellation Leo, which rises around midnight local time and is highest in the sky around dawn.
The Geminids (December)
The Geminids are active from about December 4 to December 17, peaking overnight from December 13 to December 14. They have a sharp peak, so the night of the 13th is the best time for skywatching.
The Geminids are the most spectacular meteor shower of the year: In addition to boasting up to 120 or even 150 meteors per hour during its peak, this meteor shower is also the brightest and most colorful of the year.
The Geminids are bright, slow-moving meteors that often have yellow tones, but they can be a range of other colors, including green, blue, white, red, or orange. And unlike most meteors, which are caused by comet debris, the Geminids are the remnant of an asteroid.
The night that the Geminids’ peak, the their radiant, the constellation Gemini, will be above the horizon all night and will reach its highest point around 2 am local time, so meteors will be visible almost the whole night.
That same night, the moon will be about 32 percent illuminated and will rise around 1:30 am in the eastern US, so if you watch this shower shortly after midnight, the moonlight won’t interfere with your viewing experience.
The Ursids (December)
The Ursids are active around December 17 to December 26, peaking in the early morning hours of December 22. This meteor shower is less active than others, typically yields about 10 meteors per hour; however, viewing conditions will be perfect for skywatching. The moon will set at approximately 6 pm in the eastern US on the 21st, so no moonlight will interfere with this meteor shower.
Even though the Ursids typically produce the most meteors just before dawn, when its radiant, the Little Dipper (or Ursa Minor), is highest in the sky, you will be able to see meteors throughout the entire night during this shower’s peak. In northern latitudes the Ursids’ radiant is above the horizon all night.
