2018 Meteor Shower

Meteor showers are great showy celestial events where a number of meteors descend or radiate from a single point in the sky. It is found that meteors entering the Earth's atmosphere spew streams of cosmic debris called meteoroids that travel on parallel paths and at high speeds. They are also called as shooting stars or falling stars by layman. Most of them of very tiny pieces that they disintegrate during the journey and are gone before they enter the earth.

Some of the notable meteor showers are the Perseids, and the Leonids. The Perseids are visible all through the year and peak during mid-August. The Leonids are called the King of Meteor showers and peak around mid-November. Scan the north sky to view the Leonids. Driving south may lead you to darker skies, but the glow will dominate the northern horizons. Perseid meteors would be seen as a rain in the north east direction and can be viewed around midnight during mid-August. The visiting meteors are visible when they are around 60 miles of 96.5 kms up. Meteors travel at a speed of about 30,000 mph or 48,280 kph and can reach temperatures of about 3000 Fahrenheit or 1648 degrees Celsius.



2018 Meteorshower
Escape the city glow, find a dark, secluded spot where vehicle headlights will not periodically ruin your night vision. Look for parks or other safe, dark sites to view these meteor showers.

The meteor showers listed here are the easiest to observe and provide the most activity. Particular attention should be noted to the time and moonlight conditions. All these showers are best seen after midnight. Some are not even visible until after midnight. While the time each shower is best seen remains much the same year after year, the moonlight conditions change considerably from one year to the next.

Date
Meteor Event
Jan 01 - 05, 2018
Quadrantid meteor shower 2018
Jan 03, 2018
Peak of Quadrantid meteor shower 2018
Jul 17 - Aug 24, 2018
Perseids 2018
Aug 12, 2018
Peak of Perseid meteor shower 2018

Meteor Shower Calendar

Date
Meteor Shower
Rate/Hr
Peak
Direction
Constelation
Parent Comet
03-Jan-2018
Quadrantids
120
17h32
-
Bootes
Asteroid 2003 EH 1
08-Feb-2018
alpha Centaurids
7
13h25
SE
Centaurus
14-Mar-2018
eta Virginids
2
23h25
E
Virgo
Comet D/1766 G1
05-Apr-2018
kappa Serpentids
4
21h16
NE
Corona Borealis
22-Apr-2018
Lyrids
18
22h20
NNE
Lyra
Comet C / 1861 G1 Thatcher
23-Apr-2018
pi Puppids
20
19h16
SW
Puppis
Comet 26P Grigg-Skjellerup
06-May-2018
eta Aquariids
40
09h53
E
Aquarius
Comet 1P Halley
10-May-2018
eta Lyrids
7
03h10
NNE
Lyra
Comet C / 1983 H1 (IRAS-Araki-Alcock)
28-Jun-2018
Bootids
10
08h56
-
Bootes
Comet 7P Pons-Winnecke
30-Jul-2018
South. delta Aquariids
16
13h11
E
Aquarius
30-Jul-2018
alpha Capricornids
4
13h11
E
Capricornus
Comet 45P Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova
04-Aug-2018
South. iota Aquariids
2
11h06
E
Aquarius
13-Aug-2018
Perseids
150
02h55
-
Perseus
Comet 109P Swift-Tuttle
18-Aug-2018
kappa Cygnids
3
12h49
-
Cygnus
01-Sep-2018
alpha Aurigids
10
00h19
-
Auriga
Comet C / 1911 N1 Kiess
03-Oct-2018
Capricornids
2
07h22
E
Capricornus
Comet D / 1978 R1 (Haneda-Campos)
06-Oct-2018
Camelopardalids
40
05h18
-
Chamaeleon
09-Oct-2018
Draconids
10
02h09
-
Draco
Comet 21P Giacobini-Zinner
21-Oct-2018
Orionids
15
19h16
NE
Orion
Comet 1P Halley
06-Nov-2018
Northern Taurids
4
19h41
NE
Taurus
Asteroid 2004 TG10
06-Nov-2018
Southern Taurids
7
19h41
NE
Taurus
Comet 2P Encke
18-Nov-2018
Leonids
15
04h53
NE
Leo
Commet 55P / Tempel-Tuttle
22-Nov-2018
alpha Monocerotids
4
00h55
ENE
Monoceros
14-Dec-2018
Geminids
120
10h33
NNE
Gemini
Asteroid 3200 Phaethon
23-Dec-2018
Ursids
10
05h59
-
Ursa Minor
Comet 8P Tuttle
26-Dec-2018
Comae Berenicids
5
04h40
NE
Coma Berenicis

Quadrantids 2018:

The Quadrantids are an easily visible January meteor shower. The entire activity period of the Quadrantids runs from January 1 to 5, 2018. The radiant of this shower is an area inside the constellation Bootes.

Peak of Quadrantid meteor shower:

The maximum of the Quadrantid activity in 2018 is expected during the night of the 3rd January 2018. The Quadrantids are an easily visible January meteor shower. The peak intensity is exceedingly sharp: the meteor rates exceed one-half of their highest value for only about 8 hours .

Perseids 2018:

From July 17 to August 24 in 2018 the Perseids light up the night sky. That is the name of a popular meteor shower which comes back every year during the first half of August. The peak of the Perseids is on August 12. At that night one can see extra high amount of shooting stars.

Peak of Perseid meteor shower:

Perseids are one of the strong meteor showers. It produce up to 60 meteors per hour at peak hours. Radiant point of this shower is in the constellation Perseus. These meteors originate from the tail of comet Swift-Tuttle.

Peak of Perseid meteor shower:

The maximum of the Perseid activity in 2018 is expected during the night of the 12th August 2018. The Perseids is the name of a prolific meteor shower. The shower is visible from mid-July each year, with the peak in activity being between August 9 and 14, depending on the particular location of the stream.

Leonids 2018:

The Leonids are a meteor shower associated with the comet Tempel-Tuttle, which is visible between the 14th and 21st of November 2018. The Leonids get their name from the location of their radiant in the constellation Leo: the meteors appear to radiate from that point in the sky. The Leonids tend to peak in November.