-> Table of the Most Usual Meteor Showers

the radiant of a meteor shower. picture NASA/MSFC/D. Moser, NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office

Most Usual Meteor Showers

Name	Dates	Usual date(s) of maximum	Hourly rate (ZHR) (1)	Radiant (2)	Velocity (km/s)	Parent body
Quadrantids	Jan. 1-5	Jan. 2-3	120 (80?)	230 +49	41	2003 EH1 (asteroid (3)); unlike the more famous Perseid and Geminid meteor showers, the Quadrantids only last a few hours. They derive their name from constellation Quadrans Muralis, the Mural Quadrant created by the French astronomer Jerome Lalande in 1795 between constellations Bootes and Draco. A quadrans muralis was a early astronomical instrument used to observe and plot stars. That constellation does not exist anymore but was extant sufficient enough to name that meteor shower, which was first seen in 1825. This shower has a very sharp peak, usually only lasting a few hours, and is often obscured by winter weather
Lyrids	Apr. 16-25	Apr. 21-22	15-18	271 +34	49	C/Thatcher (1861 G1), which has a orbital period of approximately 415 years. Lyrids have been observed for more than 2,600 years. A number of historic records of meteor displays believed to be Lyrids, notably in 687 B.C. and 15 B.C. in China, and A.D. 1136 in Korea when 'many stars flew from the northeast",' exist. Lyrid meteors often produce luminous dust trains observable for several seconds
Eta Aquariids	Apr. 19-May 28	May 5-6	60 (45?)	338 -01	66	1P/Halley. The shower is best viewed from the southern hemisphere
Arietids (4)	late May-early Jul.	Jun. 8	thousands	constellation Aries, the Ram	39	sungrazing asteroid 1566 Icarus?
Delphinids	about Jun. 11	about Jun. 11	-	near constellation Delphinus, the Dolphin	39	a brief flurry of meteors occurred in June 1930, as the Earth likely passed into a narrow trail of dust which was left over from a long-period comet which swept into the inner solar system many hundreds or thousands years ago. That likely too was a chance encounter as the Delphinids never were observed since as 2013, then 2027 might be another chance to check for them
Southern Delta Aquariids	Jul. 12-Aug. 19	Jul. 27-28	20	339 -16	41	unknown, 96P Machholz suspected, or debris fields left by two sungrazing comets, Marsden and Kracht, that broke apart in space
Perseids	Jul. 17-Aug. 24	Aug. 11-12	100-110	046 +58	59	109P/Swift-Tuttle (the Perseids have been observed for at least 2,000 years as pieces of ice and dust from are most over 1,000 years old; the Perseids are also known as 'The Tears of St. Lawrence,' Lawrence being a Christian deacon martyred in 258 A.D. Comet Swift-Tuttle had been discovered back in 1862 as it features a 130-year orbit and a nucleus 16 miles (26 km) in diameter. Its most recent perihelion was in 1992, and the next won’t be until 12 July 2126). Most Perseids meteors are as bright as Polaris or brighter. Perseids generally, are fast and bright, and frequently leave trains. Most years, Earth might graze the edge of Swift-Tuttle’s debris stream, where there’s less activity as occasionally Jupiter’s gravity tugs the huge network of dust trails closer, and Earth plows through closer to the middle. Some trails results from a comet's passage at Sun which occurred hundreds if not thousands of years ago. Peak temperatures of meteors can reach anywhere from 3,000 to 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,650-5,500 degrees Celsius) as they speed across the sky. Most burn up 50 miles above our planet. Every 11.8th year, generally, Jupiter is passing close to comet Swift-Tuttle remnants, nudging them closer to Earth hence a enhanced Perseid display. Last passage occurred in 2015. Perseids are one of both main meteor showers of the year, with the Geminids
Alpha Aurigids	Aug. 25-Sept. 5-8	Sept. 1	7-10	084 +42	66	comet Kiess (C/1911 N1)
Draconids (5)	October	-	-	-	-	21P/Giacobini-Zinner
Orionids	Oct. 2-Nov. 7	Oct. 21-22	20-23	095 +16	66	1P/Halley. The Orionids are known for being bright and quick meteors. Their radiant is North of Betelgeuse
Leonids	Nov. 14-Nov. 21	Nov. 17-19	15; ability to storm (6)	153 +22	71 (7)	55P/Tempel-Tuttle. Every 33 years the comet visits the inner solar system and leaves a supplementary stream of dusty debris in its wake as many of these streams have drifted across the November portion of Earth’s orbit
Puppid-Velids	Dec. 1-Dec. 15	about Dec. 7	10	123 -45	40	-
Geminids	Dec. 7-Dec. 17	Dec. 13-14	120	112 +33	35	3200 Phaethon (asteroid (8)). Geminids are one of both main meteor showers of the year, with the Perseids. Also one of the best reliable. When the Geminids first appeared in the mid-19th century, the shower was weak and attracted little attention
Ursids	Dec. 17-Dec. 26	Dec. 22-23	10	217 +76	33	8P/Tuttle

(1) back Zenith Hourly Rate (ZHR) is the shooting stars theoretical hourly rate. It is the number of shooting stars an observer would see per hour, in ideal conditions (6.5 magnitude stars visible), and would the radiant be at the zenith of the observer
(2) back Radiant is given in usual equatorial coordinates: right ascension (R.A.) -here given in degrees (there are 15° in each hour of R.A.)- and in declination (dec.) in degrees
(3) back Meteors parent-asteroids have been counted until now to the number of 2: Phaethon as parent-body to Geminids, and lately 2003 EH1, parent for the Quadrantids. 3200 Phaeton, at a diameter of 3.6 miles (6 kilometers) was discovered on Oct. 11, 1983. Phaethon is a extinct comet, or the remaining hard skeleton of a comet which lost its ice during repeated passages at the Sun. Such bodies may also be asteroids surrounded with a cloud of debris due to a collision with another asteroid in the asteroid belt. 3200 Phaeton asteroid dust trail is about 14 million miles long and weighs about a billion tons. Something catastrophic happened to Phaethon a couple of thousand years ago and created the Geminid Meteor shower as that trail might be part of the Geminid meteor stream. 2003 EH1, on the other hand, could very well be a piece of a comet which broke apart 500 years ago, and that the Quadrantids are the small debris from this fragmentation. First meteor shower linked to a asteroid was the Geminids. Asteroids usually are made up of rock and metal, while comets are rock and ice
(4) back Arietids are daylight meteors, that is that most of them are invisible
(5) back Draconids, or the Giacobinids, a meteor shower in October resulting from comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner is usually of no worth. By distant intervals however, the Draconids, can produce highly important showers of about 1,000 meteors per hour, like the case in 1933 or 1946! Such a rare occurrence means that Earth is passing trough a denser trail in the cometary debris. One occurrence happened in October 2011 as it was relatively milder with some 600 meteors per hour. No such event now is forecasted before the next 40 years as 1988 and 2005 also had had some spike in activity. The variability of the extraordinary peaks may also mean that the debris tails may be replenished by interval by 21P/Giacobini-Zinner as a stream of particles, which was ejected in 1900, might be still largely intact in any case
(6) back Leonids are prone to yield meteor storms. Meteor storms are defined as a meteor shower yielding over 1,000 shooting stars per hour. Meteor storms of the Leonids occurred in 1833 and 1966, with rates of tens of thousands per hour. Most notable too were 1999, 2001 and 2002 with up to a few thousand meteors per hour due to that the Tempel-Tuttle parent comet had crossed the Earth's orbit in 1998. 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. Leonids may also display a secondary peak, like in 2012 when a one occurred Nov. 19-20 after the main Nov. 16-17 peak
(7) back This is one of the fastest meteor velocities possible, as such speeds usually give meteors tints of white, blue, aquamarine and even green!
(8) back see above note 3