The night sky calendar: A guide to this year's meteor showers





How to enjoy the stellar shows caused by passing comets this year, which takes off from today

Once upon a time, a meteor shower was heralded as an apocalyptic event. But now we know that shooting stars are not caused by angry gods or the raging of some other all-powerful supernatural being, but by debris flying off comets orbiting the sun. This means they take place regularly and can be predicted. Here are the meteor showers to look out for this year, and the best dates to view them. 

 

 THE QUADRANTIDS -JANUARY 4

The peak of the Quadrantids shower, which is short but intense, is best viewed in the northern hemisphere. The first meteor shower of the year will soon burst across our night skies with up to 80 fireballs an hour searing through the night. It is one of the strongest meteor showers of the year, but can be difficult to see because of the unpredictable January weather.

THE LYRIDS -APRIL 22 AND 23

This shower is created by Comet Thatcher, which orbits the sun spewing out debris.
The spectacular shooting star extravaganza takes place each April over the course of a week, and lets you see as many as 20 shooting stars per hour. It is visible throughout the Northern hemisphere and should appear in the east

PERSEIDS -AUGUST 12 AND 13

The Perseid meteor shower is the most famous of all the meteor showers, and can be viewed in the skies in August. The peak dates could see up to 100 meteors become visible in the sky .Happily, you don't need a telescope, you can see it with your naked eye.

ORIONIDS --OCTOBER 21 TO 22

The phenomenon is visible throughout October but reaches it apex on the nights of the 21st and 22nd, before stopping around November 2nd.
During that period it's possible to see between 15 and 30 meteors every hour and the best part is you don't even need a telescope -the whole thing is visible to the naked eye.
As ever though, cloud cover is key to star-gazing, so check the weather forecast for the next three nights for the best chance of a good view of streaks across the sky .

LEONIDS -MID NOVEMBER

This stunning meteor shower could give observers a chance to see up to 15 shooting stars each hour.
Occurring each year in mid-November, the Leonid meteor shower occurs when the Earth moves through the dust trail of the Tempel-Tuttle comet.
Last year, up to 13 tonnes of dust and rock particles was deposited in the Earth's atmosphere during the course of the meteor shower.

THE GEMINIDS -DECEMBER 13 AND 14

The Geminid shooting stars could dazzle star gazers at a rate of more than one a minute.
In recent years the shower has become more intense, as the gravitational influence of Jupiter and Saturn shifted a denser debris stream of particles closer to the Earth.
The spectacular show is best seen late at night.