22 September 2026
The Southern Taurids Are Active, But Rates Are Low
~1 meteor an hour
The Southern Taurids peak in 18 days, with a nominal rate of 5/hr. The Moon is 82% lit, so a bright Moon will drown out all but the brightest meteors. Expect a fraction of the nominal rate, and favour the hours after moonset.
Active tonight
Southern Taurids5/hr at peak · Taurus · Both
Low rates but a high proportion of fireballs — worth watching for quality rather than quantity.
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 — Southern Taurids is active. The best of them is the Southern Taurids, 18 days before its peak, with a realistic rate of about 1 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 82% lit — a bright Moon will drown out all but the brightest meteors. Expect a fraction of the nominal rate, and favour the hours after moonset.
- 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.