Astrology

Skies offer weak but steady meteor showers from October through November 2026

Five meteor showers will cross the night sky between October and December 2026, though the American Meteor Society expects lower rates than in past years, the Colorado Springs Gazette reports.

One shower runs from October 2 to November 7 and peaks on the night of October 21-22, historically producing 50 to 75 meteors an hour in strong years, but the moon will be about 80 percent full on the peak night, limiting viewing to the hours between moonset and dawn, according to the Gazette.

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Two Taurid peaks favor darker October skies#

A shower running from September 20 to November 20 has two components, peaking on the nights of October 13-14 and November 4-5, the Gazette reports. The American Meteor Society says 2026 is not a 'swarm year' for the fireball-heavy second peak, so the mid-October date may offer the better view, with the moon only about 10 percent full that night versus 18 percent full at the November peak.

Both this shower and its northern counterpart tend to produce just five to 10 meteors an hour, according to the Gazette. The northern shower stretches from October 20 through December 10 and peaks on the night of November 11-12, when lunar illumination will reach approximately seven percent, with the best viewing after midnight.

A weaker mid-November shower still gets a clear moon#

A fifth shower will run from November 6 to 30, with the American Meteor Society projecting around 10 to 15 meteors an hour this year, lower than in some past displays, the Gazette reports. Its peak falls on the night of November 16-17, when lunar illumination reaches approximately 45 percent, though viewing conditions should remain favorable during the early morning hours according to the Society.

Earlier autumn showers already came and went#

Those October and November peaks follow a run of weaker September showers. The September Epsilon Perseids peaked on September 9 at about 18:00 UTC with a Zenithal Hourly Rate of roughly 8, according to the International Meteor Organization's 2026 calendar as cited by the Farmers' Almanac, and the outlet noted the New Moon at 11:27 p.m. EDT on September 10 gave nearly moonless skies for viewing.

The Independent had earlier reported that the Orionid meteor shower, tied to debris from Halley's comet, becomes active from early October and peaks around October 21, alongside a Pleiades star cluster display and a four-planet alignment of Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter expected before sunrise on November 14.

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