11 November 2026
Yes — the Leonids Are Active Tonight
~6 meteors an hour
The Leonids peak in 6 days, with a nominal rate of 15/hr. The Moon is 5% lit, so the Moon is close to new, so the sky will be properly dark — the best conditions a shower can get.
Active tonight
Leonids15/hr at peak · Leo · Both
The fastest meteors of any major shower, and the source of history's great meteor storms roughly every 33 years.
Southern Taurids5/hr at peak · Taurus · Both
Low rates but a high proportion of fireballs — worth watching for quality rather than quantity.
Northern Taurids5/hr at peak · Taurus · Both
The second Encke stream. Slow, bright meteors, overlapping the southern branch for weeks.
How to actually watch
Go out after midnight if you can — that is when your side of Earth faces into the debris stream and rates roughly double. Get away from direct lights, lie back so you can take in as much sky as possible, and give your eyes a full twenty minutes to adapt. Do not look at your phone during that time; it resets the adaptation in seconds.
Do not use a telescope or binoculars. Meteors cross large arcs of sky and any magnification narrows your view to the point of uselessness. You also do not need to find the radiant — meteors appear all over the sky and simply trace back to it.
The next peaks
Rates below are the nominal ZHR — the idealised hourly count under a perfectly dark sky with the radiant overhead. The final column is what the Moon that night actually leaves you.
| Shower | Peak 2026 | Rate | Moon | Realistic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quadrantids | 3 January | 110/hr | 100% | ~22/hr |
| Lyrids | 22 April | 18/hr | 29% | ~14/hr |
| Eta Aquariids | 6 May | 50/hr | 83% | ~10/hr |
| Southern Delta Aquariids | 30 July | 25/hr | 100% | ~5/hr |
| Perseids | 12 August | 100/hr | 0% | ~100/hr |
| Draconids | 8 October | 10/hr | 7% | ~10/hr |
| Southern Taurids | 10 October | 5/hr | 0% | ~5/hr |
| Orionids | 21 October | 20/hr | 73% | ~4/hr |
| Northern Taurids | 12 November | 5/hr | 8% | ~5/hr |
| Leonids | 17 November | 15/hr | 47% | ~8/hr |
| Geminids | 14 December | 150/hr | 22% | ~120/hr |
| Ursids | 22 December | 10/hr | 95% | ~2/hr |
Moon phases come from the same engine as the lunar calendar, so a shower peaking near a full moon is flagged before you plan the night around it.
Common questions
- Is there a meteor shower tonight?
- Yes — Leonids, Southern Taurids, Northern Taurids are active. The best of them is the Leonids, 6 days before its peak, with a realistic rate of about 6 meteors an hour once moonlight is accounted for.
- What time is best for watching?
- The hours after midnight and before dawn, almost always. That is when your side of Earth turns to face the direction of travel, so you sweep up more meteors. The Draconids are the exception — they are better in the evening.
- Does the Moon matter?
- More than the shower's nominal rate does. A bright moon washes out everything but the brightest meteors, so a modest shower under a new moon routinely beats a rich one under a full moon. Tonight the Moon is 5% lit — the Moon is close to new, so the sky will be properly dark — the best conditions a shower can get.
- Do I need a telescope?
- No — a telescope actively hurts. Meteors cross large arcs of sky, so you want the widest possible view. Lie back, take in as much sky as you can, and give your eyes twenty minutes to adapt without looking at a phone.