Sky calendar
The next 18 months of things that happen on a date, solved from the ephemeris rather than kept in a list. Almost every one is the same instant for everybody on Earth, so a date here needs no location to be true — what is visible tonight is the list that does depend on where you are standing.
Coming up
] SOONEST FIRST- FLYBYIN 3 DAYS11FRI
(2026 OH3) passes at 12.3 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 146 m and 326 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 12.3 lunar distances out at 20.17 km/s.
- FLYBYIN 9 DAYS17THU
(2026 NT2) passes at 16.1 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 240 m and 536 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 16.1 lunar distances out at 12.54 km/s.
- METEORSIN 31 DAYS8THU
Draconids at maximum
Earth crosses 21P/Giacobini-Zinner's dust trail: up to 5 an hour under a perfect sky, tracing back to Draco.
+WHAT THE EIGHT KINDS ARE
- Eclipses — solar and lunar, with where on Earth each is greatest.
- Meteor showers — dated by where the Earth is in its orbit, not by a fixed calendar day.
- Moon phases — the four quarters, which set what else is worth chasing that fortnight.
- Close pairings — two bright things within a few degrees of each other.
- Oppositions — the night each outer planet is closest, biggest and up all night.
- Elongations — the mornings and evenings Mercury and Venus stand furthest from the Sun.
- Equinoxes and solstices — the four turning points of the year.
- Flybys — near-Earth asteroids passing inside twenty lunar distances.
Pick a place and every event will say which hours are worth being outside for it. Until you do, nothing here is answered for anywhere in particular.
September 2026
] 2 EVENTS- 11FRIFLYBY--:--
(2026 OH3) passes at 12.3 lunar distances
(2026 OH3), somewhere between 146 m and 326 m across depending on how dark its surface is, makes its closest approach to Earth at 12.3 lunar distances (4.7 million km), moving past at 20.17 km/s. At magnitude 21.0 it is far below anything an amateur telescope reaches — this one is a fact rather than a sight. A pass at this range is ordinary rather than alarming — it is the reason the object is tracked, not a reason to worry about it.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 20.17 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 12.3 lunar distances — 4 731 952 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 21.0 — far below anything an amateur telescope reaches
- SIZE
- 146 m – 326 m — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
- 17THUFLYBY--:--
(2026 NT2) passes at 16.1 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 240 m and 536 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 16.1 lunar distances out at 12.54 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 12.54 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 16.1 lunar distances — 6 183 442 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 18.0 — far below anything an amateur telescope reaches
- SIZE
- 240 m – 536 m — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
October 2026
] 4 EVENTS- 8THUMETEORS--:--ACTIVE 2026-10-07 — 2026-10-09
Draconids at maximum
The Earth crosses the densest part of a dust trail left by 21P/Giacobini-Zinner, and the debris burns up at 20 km/s. Under a genuinely dark sky with the radiant overhead this is worth about 5 meteors an hour — a real sky and a real radiant altitude will give fewer, and a bright moon fewer still. Meteors appear all over the sky; they only trace back to Draco, which is where to point a camera and not where to stare. It is usually almost nothing, and about once a generation a storm of thousands an hour; the slowest meteors of any shower, and the only major one best watched in the evening rather than after midnight.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- RATE
- 5/hour — under a sky showing sixth-magnitude stars, with the radiant overhead — a normalisation, not a forecast
- MOON
- 5% lit — out of the sky all night
- SPEED
- 20 km/s — entering the atmosphere
The Moon is new that night and out of the way entirely — this is as good as this shower's peak gets.
No equipment, and equipment actively hurts: binoculars cut your view down to a few degrees, and the meteors are everywhere. Lie back, look about two-thirds of the way up the sky rather than at the radiant, give your eyes twenty minutes to adapt, and stay out for an hour — rates come in gusts and a ten-minute look proves nothing.
- 9FRIMETEORS--:--ACTIVE 2026-09-09 — 2026-11-20
Southern Taurids at maximum
The Earth crosses the densest part of a dust trail left by 2P/Encke, and the debris burns up at 27 km/s. Under a genuinely dark sky with the radiant overhead this is worth about 5 meteors an hour — a real sky and a real radiant altitude will give fewer, and a bright moon fewer still. Meteors appear all over the sky; they only trace back to Cetus, which is where to point a camera and not where to stare. It is ten weeks of activity at a handful an hour, made worth watching by the fireballs — slow, orange and bright enough to cast a shadow. The radiant drifts right across the sky over those weeks, from Cetus in September into Taurus in November, so the shower is named for where it ends up rather than where it is on any one night.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- RATE
- 5/hour — under a sky showing sixth-magnitude stars, with the radiant overhead — a normalisation, not a forecast
- MOON
- 1% lit — out of the sky all night
- SPEED
- 27 km/s — entering the atmosphere
The Moon is new that night and out of the way entirely — this is as good as this shower's peak gets.
No equipment, and equipment actively hurts: binoculars cut your view down to a few degrees, and the meteors are everywhere. Lie back, look about two-thirds of the way up the sky rather than at the radiant, give your eyes twenty minutes to adapt, and stay out for an hour — rates come in gusts and a ten-minute look proves nothing.
- 21WEDMETEORS--:--ACTIVE 2026-10-06 — 2026-11-02
Orionids at maximum
The Earth crosses the densest part of a dust trail left by 1P/Halley, and the debris burns up at 66 km/s. Under a genuinely dark sky with the radiant overhead this is worth about 20 meteors an hour — a real sky and a real radiant altitude will give fewer, and a bright moon fewer still. Meteors appear all over the sky; they only trace back to Orion, which is where to point a camera and not where to stare. It is the other half of Halley's dust — the same comet as the η Aquariids, met on the way out of the stream instead of into it, and equally fast.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- RATE
- 20/hour — under a sky showing sixth-magnitude stars, with the radiant overhead — a normalisation, not a forecast
- MOON
- 75% lit — sets in the small hours
- SPEED
- 66 km/s — entering the atmosphere
The Moon is 75% lit and sets in the small hours, which will wash out everything but the brightest of them while it is there. The rate above is what a moonless sky would give; expect a fraction of it.
No equipment, and equipment actively hurts: binoculars cut your view down to a few degrees, and the meteors are everywhere. Lie back, look about two-thirds of the way up the sky rather than at the radiant, give your eyes twenty minutes to adapt, and stay out for an hour — rates come in gusts and a ten-minute look proves nothing.
- 31SATFLYBY--:--
(2025 UK9) passes at 0.8 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 3 m and 6 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 0.8 lunar distances out at 7.83 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 7.83 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 0.8 lunar distances — 314 823 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 20.1 — far below anything an amateur telescope reaches
- SIZE
- 3 m – 6 m — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
November 2026
] 4 EVENTS- 2MONFLYBY--:--
524522 Zoozve (2002 VE68) passes at 15.7 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 207 m and 464 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 15.7 lunar distances out at 8.72 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 8.72 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 15.7 lunar distances — 6 018 535 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 15.6 — far below anything an amateur telescope reaches
- SIZE
- 207 m – 464 m — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
- 6FRIFLYBY--:--
(2001 KF54) passes at 18.8 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 293 m and 655 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 18.8 lunar distances out at 16.42 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 16.42 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 18.8 lunar distances — 7 243 615 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 15.9 — far below anything an amateur telescope reaches
- SIZE
- 293 m – 655 m — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
- 12THUMETEORS--:--ACTIVE 2026-10-17 — 2026-12-05
Northern Taurids at maximum
The Earth crosses the densest part of a dust trail left by 2P/Encke, and the debris burns up at 29 km/s. Under a genuinely dark sky with the radiant overhead this is worth about 5 meteors an hour — a real sky and a real radiant altitude will give fewer, and a bright moon fewer still. Meteors appear all over the sky; they only trace back to Taurus, which is where to point a camera and not where to stare. It is the second branch of the same broad stream, overlapping the first for most of November and throwing the same slow fireballs.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- RATE
- 5/hour — under a sky showing sixth-magnitude stars, with the radiant overhead — a normalisation, not a forecast
- MOON
- 9% lit — sets in the early evening
- SPEED
- 29 km/s — entering the atmosphere
The Moon is a 9% crescent and sets in the early evening — thin enough that it barely matters.
No equipment, and equipment actively hurts: binoculars cut your view down to a few degrees, and the meteors are everywhere. Lie back, look about two-thirds of the way up the sky rather than at the radiant, give your eyes twenty minutes to adapt, and stay out for an hour — rates come in gusts and a ten-minute look proves nothing.
- 17TUEMETEORS--:--ACTIVE 2026-11-12 — 2026-11-27
Leonids at maximum
The Earth crosses the densest part of a dust trail left by 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, and the debris burns up at 71 km/s. Under a genuinely dark sky with the radiant overhead this is worth about 15 meteors an hour — a real sky and a real radiant altitude will give fewer, and a bright moon fewer still. Meteors appear all over the sky; they only trace back to Leo, which is where to point a camera and not where to stare. It is the fastest meteors that reach us, and the shower with the most spectacular history — every 33 years or so, when the parent comet has just been past, it has produced storms of tens of thousands an hour.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- RATE
- 15/hour — under a sky showing sixth-magnitude stars, with the radiant overhead — a normalisation, not a forecast
- MOON
- 51% lit — sets around midnight
- SPEED
- 71 km/s — entering the atmosphere
The Moon is 51% lit and sets around midnight. It will cost you the faint end of the shower while it is up, so the hours after it goes are worth more than the hours before.
No equipment, and equipment actively hurts: binoculars cut your view down to a few degrees, and the meteors are everywhere. Lie back, look about two-thirds of the way up the sky rather than at the radiant, give your eyes twenty minutes to adapt, and stay out for an hour — rates come in gusts and a ten-minute look proves nothing.
December 2026
] 3 EVENTS- 8TUEFLYBY--:--
(2016 NV) passes at 14.3 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 284 m and 634 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 14.3 lunar distances out at 10.42 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 10.42 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 14.3 lunar distances — 5 478 070 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 15.0 — needs a telescope
- SIZE
- 284 m – 634 m — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
- 14MONMETEORS--:--ACTIVE 2026-12-07 — 2026-12-19
Geminids at maximum
The Earth crosses the densest part of a dust trail left by 3200 Phaethon, and the debris burns up at 35 km/s. Under a genuinely dark sky with the radiant overhead this is worth about 150 meteors an hour — a real sky and a real radiant altitude will give fewer, and a bright moon fewer still. Meteors appear all over the sky; they only trace back to Gemini, which is where to point a camera and not where to stare. It is the richest shower of the year, and the only major one whose parent is an asteroid rather than a comet; medium-speed, often yellow, and active from mid-evening because the radiant rises early.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- RATE
- 150/hour — under a sky showing sixth-magnitude stars, with the radiant overhead — a normalisation, not a forecast
- MOON
- 22% lit — sets in the early evening
- SPEED
- 35 km/s — entering the atmosphere
The Moon is a 22% crescent and sets in the early evening — thin enough that it barely matters.
No equipment, and equipment actively hurts: binoculars cut your view down to a few degrees, and the meteors are everywhere. Lie back, look about two-thirds of the way up the sky rather than at the radiant, give your eyes twenty minutes to adapt, and stay out for an hour — rates come in gusts and a ten-minute look proves nothing.
- 22TUEMETEORS--:--ACTIVE 2026-12-20 — 2026-12-25
Ursids at maximum
The Earth crosses the densest part of a dust trail left by 8P/Tuttle, and the debris burns up at 33 km/s. Under a genuinely dark sky with the radiant overhead this is worth about 10 meteors an hour — a real sky and a real radiant altitude will give fewer, and a bright moon fewer still. Meteors appear all over the sky; they only trace back to Ursa Minor, which is where to point a camera and not where to stare. It is a small northern shower nobody watches because it falls the week of the December solstice; the radiant never sets from most of the northern hemisphere, so it can be watched all night.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- RATE
- 10/hour — under a sky showing sixth-magnitude stars, with the radiant overhead — a normalisation, not a forecast
- MOON
- 96% lit — sets in the small hours
- SPEED
- 33 km/s — entering the atmosphere
The Moon is 96% lit and sets in the small hours, which will wash out everything but the brightest of them while it is there. The rate above is what a moonless sky would give; expect a fraction of it.
No equipment, and equipment actively hurts: binoculars cut your view down to a few degrees, and the meteors are everywhere. Lie back, look about two-thirds of the way up the sky rather than at the radiant, give your eyes twenty minutes to adapt, and stay out for an hour — rates come in gusts and a ten-minute look proves nothing.
January 2027
] 2 EVENTS- 3SUNMETEORS--:--ACTIVE 2027-01-02 — 2027-01-06
Quadrantids at maximum
The Earth crosses the densest part of a dust trail left by 196256 (2003 EH₁), and the debris burns up at 41 km/s. Under a genuinely dark sky with the radiant overhead this is worth about 110 meteors an hour — a real sky and a real radiant altitude will give fewer, and a bright moon fewer still. Meteors appear all over the sky; they only trace back to Boötes, which is where to point a camera and not where to stare. It is the sharpest maximum of any shower — the good hours are about six wide, so the peak either falls on your night or it does not.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- RATE
- 110/hour — under a sky showing sixth-magnitude stars, with the radiant overhead — a normalisation, not a forecast
- MOON
- 14% lit — rises in the small hours
- SPEED
- 41 km/s — entering the atmosphere
The Moon is a 14% crescent and rises in the small hours — thin enough that it barely matters.
No equipment, and equipment actively hurts: binoculars cut your view down to a few degrees, and the meteors are everywhere. Lie back, look about two-thirds of the way up the sky rather than at the radiant, give your eyes twenty minutes to adapt, and stay out for an hour — rates come in gusts and a ten-minute look proves nothing.
- 28THUFLYBY--:--
(2020 OP3) passes at 7.6 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 172 m and 384 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 7.6 lunar distances out at 16.86 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 16.86 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 7.6 lunar distances — 2 918 357 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 18.0 — far below anything an amateur telescope reaches
- SIZE
- 172 m – 384 m — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
March 2027
] 3 EVENTS- 4THUFLYBY--:--
474158 (1999 FA) passes at 16.5 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 192 m and 429 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 16.5 lunar distances out at 6.63 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 6.63 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 16.5 lunar distances — 6 350 271 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 16.6 — far below anything an amateur telescope reaches
- SIZE
- 192 m – 429 m — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
- 4THUFLYBY--:--
535844 (2015 BY310) passes at 9.2 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 111 m and 249 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 9.2 lunar distances out at 8.02 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 8.02 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 9.2 lunar distances — 3 527 630 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 16.2 — far below anything an amateur telescope reaches
- SIZE
- 111 m – 249 m — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
- 18THUFLYBY--:--
506074 Svarog (2015 UM67) passes at 19.0 lunar distances
A body 665 m across, passing 19.0 lunar distances out at 22.41 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 22.41 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 19.0 lunar distances — 7 308 194 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 15.2 — far below anything an amateur telescope reaches
- SIZE
- 665 m — measured
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
April 2027
] 1 EVENT- 22THUMETEORS--:--ACTIVE 2027-04-19 — 2027-04-26
Lyrids at maximum
The Earth crosses the densest part of a dust trail left by C/1861 G1 (Thatcher), and the debris burns up at 49 km/s. Under a genuinely dark sky with the radiant overhead this is worth about 18 meteors an hour — a real sky and a real radiant altitude will give fewer, and a bright moon fewer still. Meteors appear all over the sky; they only trace back to Hercules, close to Vega, which is where to point a camera and not where to stare. It is the oldest shower on record, watched from China in 687 BC, and still capable of a brief outburst nobody predicted.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- RATE
- 18/hour — under a sky showing sixth-magnitude stars, with the radiant overhead — a normalisation, not a forecast
- MOON
- 97% lit — rises in the mid-evening
- SPEED
- 49 km/s — entering the atmosphere
The Moon is 97% lit and rises in the mid-evening, which will wash out everything but the brightest of them while it is there. The rate above is what a moonless sky would give; expect a fraction of it.
No equipment, and equipment actively hurts: binoculars cut your view down to a few degrees, and the meteors are everywhere. Lie back, look about two-thirds of the way up the sky rather than at the radiant, give your eyes twenty minutes to adapt, and stay out for an hour — rates come in gusts and a ten-minute look proves nothing.
May 2027
] 1 EVENT- 6THUMETEORS--:--ACTIVE 2027-05-01 — 2027-05-16
η Aquariids at maximum
The Earth crosses the densest part of a dust trail left by 1P/Halley, and the debris burns up at 66 km/s. Under a genuinely dark sky with the radiant overhead this is worth about 50 meteors an hour — a real sky and a real radiant altitude will give fewer, and a bright moon fewer still. Meteors appear all over the sky; they only trace back to Aquarius, which is where to point a camera and not where to stare. It is dust from Halley's Comet, hitting the atmosphere almost head-on and leaving glowing trains that hang for seconds; much better from the southern hemisphere, where the radiant climbs before dawn instead of skimming the horizon.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- RATE
- 50/hour — under a sky showing sixth-magnitude stars, with the radiant overhead — a normalisation, not a forecast
- MOON
- 0% lit — out of the sky all night
- SPEED
- 66 km/s — entering the atmosphere
The Moon is new that night and out of the way entirely — this is as good as this shower's peak gets.
No equipment, and equipment actively hurts: binoculars cut your view down to a few degrees, and the meteors are everywhere. Lie back, look about two-thirds of the way up the sky rather than at the radiant, give your eyes twenty minutes to adapt, and stay out for an hour — rates come in gusts and a ten-minute look proves nothing.
June 2027
] 2 EVENTS- 6SUNFLYBY--:--
4953 (1990 MU) passes at 12.0 lunar distances
4953 (1990 MU), somewhere between 2.8 km and 6.3 km across depending on how dark its surface is, makes its closest approach to Earth at 12.0 lunar distances (4.6 million km), moving past at 23.82 km/s. At magnitude 9.9 it is a binocular object, moving fast enough across the stars to watch it move. A pass at this range is ordinary rather than alarming — it is the reason the object is tracked, not a reason to worry about it.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 23.82 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 12.0 lunar distances — 4 612 019 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 9.9 — a binocular object
- SIZE
- 2.8 km – 6.3 km — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
Bright enough to find, and fast enough that the finding is the sport: it moves against the stars while you watch, so what you are looking for is the one point that will not stay put. Have a chart of the field ready before it arrives.
- 28MONFLYBY--:--
456938 (2007 YV56) passes at 19.6 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 169 m and 379 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 19.6 lunar distances out at 17.79 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 17.79 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 19.6 lunar distances — 7 530 376 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 17.8 — far below anything an amateur telescope reaches
- SIZE
- 169 m – 379 m — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
July 2027
] 2 EVENTS- 28WEDMETEORS--:--ACTIVE 2027-07-12 — 2027-08-23
Southern δ Aquariids at maximum
The Earth crosses the densest part of a dust trail left by 96P/Machholz, and the debris burns up at 41 km/s. Under a genuinely dark sky with the radiant overhead this is worth about 25 meteors an hour — a real sky and a real radiant altitude will give fewer, and a bright moon fewer still. Meteors appear all over the sky; they only trace back to Aquarius, which is where to point a camera and not where to stare. It is a broad, faint stream with no sharp peak, best from the southern hemisphere and from southern latitudes in the north.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- RATE
- 25/hour — under a sky showing sixth-magnitude stars, with the radiant overhead — a normalisation, not a forecast
- MOON
- 33% lit — rises around midnight
- SPEED
- 41 km/s — entering the atmosphere
The Moon is 33% lit and rises around midnight. It will cost you the faint end of the shower while it is up, so the hours after it goes are worth more than the hours before.
No equipment, and equipment actively hurts: binoculars cut your view down to a few degrees, and the meteors are everywhere. Lie back, look about two-thirds of the way up the sky rather than at the radiant, give your eyes twenty minutes to adapt, and stay out for an hour — rates come in gusts and a ten-minute look proves nothing.
- 30FRIMETEORS--:--ACTIVE 2027-07-03 — 2027-08-15
α Capricornids at maximum
The Earth crosses the densest part of a dust trail left by 169P/NEAT, and the debris burns up at 23 km/s. Under a genuinely dark sky with the radiant overhead this is worth about 5 meteors an hour — a real sky and a real radiant altitude will give fewer, and a bright moon fewer still. Meteors appear all over the sky; they only trace back to Capricornus, which is where to point a camera and not where to stare. It is slow and bright rather than numerous — the rate is low but a good fraction of what it does produce are fireballs, and both hemispheres see it equally.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- RATE
- 5/hour — under a sky showing sixth-magnitude stars, with the radiant overhead — a normalisation, not a forecast
- MOON
- 14% lit — rises in the small hours
- SPEED
- 23 km/s — entering the atmosphere
The Moon is a 14% crescent and rises in the small hours — thin enough that it barely matters.
No equipment, and equipment actively hurts: binoculars cut your view down to a few degrees, and the meteors are everywhere. Lie back, look about two-thirds of the way up the sky rather than at the radiant, give your eyes twenty minutes to adapt, and stay out for an hour — rates come in gusts and a ten-minute look proves nothing.
August 2027
] 4 EVENTS- 7SATFLYBY--:--
137108 (1999 AN10) passes at 1.0 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 653 m and 1.5 km across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 1.0 lunar distances out at 26.28 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 26.28 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 1.0 lunar distances — 389 781 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 7.8 — a binocular object
- SIZE
- 653 m – 1.5 km — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
Bright enough to find, and fast enough that the finding is the sport: it moves against the stars while you watch, so what you are looking for is the one point that will not stay put. Have a chart of the field ready before it arrives.
- 12THUMETEORS--:--ACTIVE 2027-07-17 — 2027-08-24
Perseids at maximum
The Earth crosses the densest part of a dust trail left by 109P/Swift-Tuttle, and the debris burns up at 59 km/s. Under a genuinely dark sky with the radiant overhead this is worth about 100 meteors an hour — a real sky and a real radiant altitude will give fewer, and a bright moon fewer still. Meteors appear all over the sky; they only trace back to Perseus, which is where to point a camera and not where to stare. It is the reliable one, and the one that falls in the northern hemisphere's warmest nights — bright, fast, and often leaving persistent trains.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- RATE
- 100/hour — under a sky showing sixth-magnitude stars, with the radiant overhead — a normalisation, not a forecast
- MOON
- 84% lit — sets in the small hours
- SPEED
- 59 km/s — entering the atmosphere
The Moon is 84% lit and sets in the small hours, which will wash out everything but the brightest of them while it is there. The rate above is what a moonless sky would give; expect a fraction of it.
No equipment, and equipment actively hurts: binoculars cut your view down to a few degrees, and the meteors are everywhere. Lie back, look about two-thirds of the way up the sky rather than at the radiant, give your eyes twenty minutes to adapt, and stay out for an hour — rates come in gusts and a ten-minute look proves nothing.
- 19THUFLYBY--:--
(2017 QW17) passes at 17.8 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 126 m and 281 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 17.8 lunar distances out at 19.86 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 19.86 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 17.8 lunar distances — 6 833 077 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 17.4 — far below anything an amateur telescope reaches
- SIZE
- 126 m – 281 m — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
- 29SUNFLYBY--:--
826799 (2023 OE6) passes at 16.7 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 285 m and 637 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 16.7 lunar distances out at 25.21 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 25.21 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 16.7 lunar distances — 6 419 848 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 16.5 — far below anything an amateur telescope reaches
- SIZE
- 285 m – 637 m — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
October 2027
] 6 EVENTS- 8FRIMETEORS--:--ACTIVE 2027-10-08 — 2027-10-10
Draconids at maximum
Earth crosses 21P/Giacobini-Zinner's dust trail: up to 5 an hour under a perfect sky, tracing back to Draco.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- RATE
- 5/hour — under a sky showing sixth-magnitude stars, with the radiant overhead — a normalisation, not a forecast
- MOON
- 64% lit — sets around midnight
- SPEED
- 20 km/s — entering the atmosphere
The Moon is 64% lit and sets around midnight. It will cost you the faint end of the shower while it is up, so the hours after it goes are worth more than the hours before.
No equipment, and equipment actively hurts: binoculars cut your view down to a few degrees, and the meteors are everywhere. Lie back, look about two-thirds of the way up the sky rather than at the radiant, give your eyes twenty minutes to adapt, and stay out for an hour — rates come in gusts and a ten-minute look proves nothing.
- 9SATMETEORS--:--ACTIVE 2027-09-09 — 2027-11-20
Southern Taurids at maximum
Earth crosses 2P/Encke's dust trail: up to 5 an hour under a perfect sky, tracing back to Cetus.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- RATE
- 5/hour — under a sky showing sixth-magnitude stars, with the radiant overhead — a normalisation, not a forecast
- MOON
- 72% lit — sets in the small hours
- SPEED
- 27 km/s — entering the atmosphere
The Moon is 72% lit and sets in the small hours, which will wash out everything but the brightest of them while it is there. The rate above is what a moonless sky would give; expect a fraction of it.
No equipment, and equipment actively hurts: binoculars cut your view down to a few degrees, and the meteors are everywhere. Lie back, look about two-thirds of the way up the sky rather than at the radiant, give your eyes twenty minutes to adapt, and stay out for an hour — rates come in gusts and a ten-minute look proves nothing.
- 16SATFLYBY--:--
(2026 AT6) passes at 19.9 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 267 m and 597 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 19.9 lunar distances out at 10.56 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 10.56 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 19.9 lunar distances — 7 650 309 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 14.7 — needs a telescope
- SIZE
- 267 m – 597 m — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
- 21THUMETEORS--:--ACTIVE 2027-10-06 — 2027-11-02
Orionids at maximum
Earth crosses 1P/Halley's dust trail: up to 20 an hour under a perfect sky, tracing back to Orion.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- RATE
- 20/hour — under a sky showing sixth-magnitude stars, with the radiant overhead — a normalisation, not a forecast
- MOON
- 62% lit — rises around midnight
- SPEED
- 66 km/s — entering the atmosphere
The Moon is 62% lit and rises around midnight. It will cost you the faint end of the shower while it is up, so the hours after it goes are worth more than the hours before.
No equipment, and equipment actively hurts: binoculars cut your view down to a few degrees, and the meteors are everywhere. Lie back, look about two-thirds of the way up the sky rather than at the radiant, give your eyes twenty minutes to adapt, and stay out for an hour — rates come in gusts and a ten-minute look proves nothing.
- 27WEDFLYBY--:--
250680 (2005 QC5) passes at 18.9 lunar distances
A body 398 m across, passing 18.9 lunar distances out at 10.88 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 10.88 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 18.9 lunar distances — 7 272 829 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 17.2 — far below anything an amateur telescope reaches
- SIZE
- 398 m — measured
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
- 29FRIFLYBY--:--
453707 (2010 XY72) passes at 18.7 lunar distances
A body 495 m across, passing 18.7 lunar distances out at 18.03 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 18.03 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 18.7 lunar distances — 7 180 573 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 23.0 — far below anything an amateur telescope reaches
- SIZE
- 495 m — measured
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
November 2027
] 5 EVENTS- 2TUEFLYBY--:--
(2017 QL33) passes at 8.1 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 143 m and 321 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 8.1 lunar distances out at 7.82 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 7.82 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 8.1 lunar distances — 3 110 557 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 15.6 — far below anything an amateur telescope reaches
- SIZE
- 143 m – 321 m — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
- 12FRIMETEORS--:--ACTIVE 2027-10-17 — 2027-12-05
Northern Taurids at maximum
Earth crosses 2P/Encke's dust trail: up to 5 an hour under a perfect sky, tracing back to Taurus.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- RATE
- 5/hour — under a sky showing sixth-magnitude stars, with the radiant overhead — a normalisation, not a forecast
- MOON
- 97% lit — up for the whole night
- SPEED
- 29 km/s — entering the atmosphere
The Moon is 97% lit and up for the whole night, which will wash out everything but the brightest of them while it is there. The rate above is what a moonless sky would give; expect a fraction of it.
No equipment, and equipment actively hurts: binoculars cut your view down to a few degrees, and the meteors are everywhere. Lie back, look about two-thirds of the way up the sky rather than at the radiant, give your eyes twenty minutes to adapt, and stay out for an hour — rates come in gusts and a ten-minute look proves nothing.
- 13SATFLYBY--:--
(2024 TW17) passes at 2.8 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 118 m and 264 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 2.8 lunar distances out at 20.9 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 20.9 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 2.8 lunar distances — 1 066 323 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 14.2 — needs a telescope
- SIZE
- 118 m – 264 m — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
- 17WEDMETEORS--:--ACTIVE 2027-11-12 — 2027-11-27
Leonids at maximum
Earth crosses 55P/Tempel-Tuttle's dust trail: up to 15 an hour under a perfect sky, tracing back to Leo.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- RATE
- 15/hour — under a sky showing sixth-magnitude stars, with the radiant overhead — a normalisation, not a forecast
- MOON
- 83% lit — rises in the mid-evening
- SPEED
- 71 km/s — entering the atmosphere
The Moon is 83% lit and rises in the mid-evening, which will wash out everything but the brightest of them while it is there. The rate above is what a moonless sky would give; expect a fraction of it.
No equipment, and equipment actively hurts: binoculars cut your view down to a few degrees, and the meteors are everywhere. Lie back, look about two-thirds of the way up the sky rather than at the radiant, give your eyes twenty minutes to adapt, and stay out for an hour — rates come in gusts and a ten-minute look proves nothing.
- 28SUNFLYBY--:--
(2019 UT6) passes at 13.2 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 111 m and 248 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 13.2 lunar distances out at 11.79 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 11.79 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 13.2 lunar distances — 5 084 446 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 18.5 — far below anything an amateur telescope reaches
- SIZE
- 111 m – 248 m — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
December 2027
] 3 EVENTS- 14TUEMETEORS--:--ACTIVE 2027-12-07 — 2027-12-20
Geminids at maximum
Earth crosses 3200 Phaethon's dust trail: up to 150 an hour under a perfect sky, tracing back to Gemini.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- RATE
- 150/hour — under a sky showing sixth-magnitude stars, with the radiant overhead — a normalisation, not a forecast
- MOON
- 99% lit — up for the whole night
- SPEED
- 35 km/s — entering the atmosphere
The Moon is 99% lit and up for the whole night, which will wash out everything but the brightest of them while it is there. The rate above is what a moonless sky would give; expect a fraction of it.
No equipment, and equipment actively hurts: binoculars cut your view down to a few degrees, and the meteors are everywhere. Lie back, look about two-thirds of the way up the sky rather than at the radiant, give your eyes twenty minutes to adapt, and stay out for an hour — rates come in gusts and a ten-minute look proves nothing.
- 18SATFLYBY--:--
745311 (2010 XC15) passes at 19.8 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 134 m and 301 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 19.8 lunar distances out at 8.89 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 8.89 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 19.8 lunar distances — 7 620 326 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 16.6 — far below anything an amateur telescope reaches
- SIZE
- 134 m – 301 m — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
- 22WEDMETEORS--:--ACTIVE 2027-12-21 — 2027-12-26
Ursids at maximum
Earth crosses 8P/Tuttle's dust trail: up to 10 an hour under a perfect sky, tracing back to Ursa Minor.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- RATE
- 10/hour — under a sky showing sixth-magnitude stars, with the radiant overhead — a normalisation, not a forecast
- MOON
- 25% lit — rises in the small hours
- SPEED
- 33 km/s — entering the atmosphere
The Moon is a 25% crescent and rises in the small hours — thin enough that it barely matters.
No equipment, and equipment actively hurts: binoculars cut your view down to a few degrees, and the meteors are everywhere. Lie back, look about two-thirds of the way up the sky rather than at the radiant, give your eyes twenty minutes to adapt, and stay out for an hour — rates come in gusts and a ten-minute look proves nothing.
January 2028
] 1 EVENT- 4TUEMETEORS--:--ACTIVE 2028-01-02 — 2028-01-06
Quadrantids at maximum
Earth crosses 196256 (2003 EH₁)'s dust trail: up to 110 an hour under a perfect sky, tracing back to Boötes.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- RATE
- 110/hour — under a sky showing sixth-magnitude stars, with the radiant overhead — a normalisation, not a forecast
- MOON
- 40% lit — sets in the early evening
- SPEED
- 41 km/s — entering the atmosphere
The Moon is 40% lit and sets in the early evening. It will cost you the faint end of the shower while it is up, so the hours after it goes are worth more than the hours before.
No equipment, and equipment actively hurts: binoculars cut your view down to a few degrees, and the meteors are everywhere. Lie back, look about two-thirds of the way up the sky rather than at the radiant, give your eyes twenty minutes to adapt, and stay out for an hour — rates come in gusts and a ten-minute look proves nothing.
43 events for the 18 months from today, of the kinds selected above. Times are instants, shown on your own clock; how every number here was made.
Nothing here is a hand-kept list. Every date except the flybys is solved from the same ephemeris the rest of the site uses to place the planets, at the moment you load the page; a meteor shower is dated by the longitude the Sun reaches rather than by a day of the month, which is why its date moves a little from year to year. The same events are available as JSON and CSV.
The 38 close approaches come from NASA/JPL Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, as they stood on 2026-08-30, and cover passes inside 20 lunar distances from 2026-07-31 through 2028-04-01. Unlike everything else on this page they cannot be computed from an ephemeris here — a newly discovered asteroid has no orbit until somebody measures one — so they are as complete as that date and no more.
COMMON QUESTIONS
] 10 ANSWERED- Why is there not an eclipse every month?
- Because the Moon's orbit is tilted about five degrees to the Earth's, so at most new moons its shadow passes above or below us and misses. Eclipses arrive in seasons roughly twice a year, when the two orbital planes happen to line up with the Sun.
- What fixes the date of a meteor shower?
- Where the Earth is in its orbit, not the calendar. A shower is the Earth crossing a stream of dust a comet left behind, so the peak falls at the same point in the orbit every year and drifts by a few hours against the clock — which is why the dates here are solved rather than looked up.
- Why are moon phases on a list of events?
- Because moonlight decides what else is worth chasing. A full moon costs several magnitudes of faint detail across the whole sky, so the fortnight around new moon is when meteors, galaxies and nebulae actually repay the trip outside.
- What is an opposition, and why is it the night to look?
- Opposition is the moment an outer planet sits opposite the Sun from Earth, so it rises at sunset, stands highest at midnight and sets at sunrise. It falls close to the planet's nearest approach as well, which makes it the biggest and brightest that planet gets in the year.
- What are the equinoxes and solstices, exactly?
- The four instants at which the Sun reaches its furthest north, its furthest south, or crosses the celestial equator between the two. They are moments rather than days, and they are the same moment everywhere on Earth — which is why one of them can fall on a different date depending on your time zone.
- How close does a listed flyby come?
- Inside twenty lunar distances, which is about eight million kilometres. That is close by the standards of the Solar System and by no other standard at all: nothing on this list is a hazard, and the orbits are known accurately enough to say so well in advance.
- Do I need to say where I am?
- Not for the dates. An eclipse maximum, a shower peak or an opposition is the same instant everywhere. For whether the event clears your horizon at a sensible hour — and, for a solar eclipse, for whether you are standing inside a track a few hundred kilometres wide — the answer does depend on where you are, and the page will ask if you want it.
- How far ahead can any of this be predicted?
- Centuries, for anything driven by the positions of the Sun, Moon and planets: the ephemeris behind them holds up over far longer than a lifetime, and eclipse dates thousands of years out are routine. Meteor showers are the exception — the dates are firm and the strength is not, because it depends on how the dust happens to be distributed along the stream.
- Why do the times differ by a few minutes from other sources?
- Usually because a different thing is being timed. A shower peak is a broad maximum rather than an instant and different authorities quote it differently; a phase or an eclipse can be given in different time scales. Everything here comes from one ephemeris and is stated in one scale, so the events are at least consistent with each other.
- Can I get these into my own calendar?
- Yes. The whole window is published as a subscribable feed, so the events appear in whatever calendar application you already use and follow the solutions as they are recomputed.