How do I watch a meteor shower?

Meteor showers happen when the Earth passes through the debris trail of a comet, and the particles — mostly sand-grain sized — burn up in the upper atmosphere. They need no equipment at all, which makes them the most accessible thing in astronomy and the easiest to do badly, usually by going out for ten minutes at nine in the evening under a full Moon.

What you'll need

• Warm clothes, warmer than you think
• A reclining chair or a mat and sleeping bag
• A hot drink in a flask
• A red torch
• Patience — an hour minimum

Step by step

1. Pick a shower and check the peak date.The reliable annual showers visible from Britain are the Quadrantids in early January, with a very sharp peak; the Lyrids in late April; the Perseids in mid-August, the most popular because the nights are warm; the Orionids in late October; the Leonids in mid-November; and the Geminids in mid-December, which are often the best of the year. Peak dates shift slightly each year, so check.
2. Check the Moon before anything else.A bright Moon ruins a meteor shower more thoroughly than light pollution. A shower peaking near full Moon is worth much less than a lesser shower on a moonless night. Check the phase and, if the Moon rises late, watch before it comes up.
3. Go out after midnight.In the hours before dawn your side of the Earth faces into the direction of travel, so you sweep up meteors head-on rather than catching those overtaking from behind. Rates are typically much higher between midnight and dawn than in the evening.
4. Get somewhere dark with a big sky.Away from direct lights, with a wide horizon — a hilltop, a field, a beach, a dark-sky area. You do not need perfect darkness, but every streetlight in your field of view costs you meteors. Turn off any security light that will trigger on you.
5. Look away from the radiant, not at it.The radiant is the point the meteors appear to come from — Perseus for the Perseids, Gemini for the Geminids. Meteors near the radiant are foreshortened and short; those 40 to 60 degrees away are longer and more spectacular. Look high up, roughly halfway between the radiant and the zenith, and take in as much sky as you can.
6. Lie down.Standing and craning your neck upward is exhausting and limits how long you last. A reclining garden chair or a mat on the ground with a sleeping bag over you gives you the whole sky with no effort. This is the practical difference between seeing five meteors and fifty.
7. Let your eyes adapt, and protect it.Twenty minutes without white light, and a red torch thereafter. One glance at a phone screen resets it. Put the phone away or set it to a deep red night mode at minimum brightness.
8. Stay out for at least an hour.Meteors come in clumps and gaps. A quiet twenty minutes followed by five in a minute is entirely normal. Quoted hourly rates are theoretical maxima under perfect skies with the radiant overhead; expect a fraction of the headline number.
9. Dress for standing still in a field at three in the morning.Lying still outdoors is far colder than walking. Full winter layers even in August, a hat, gloves, insulation underneath you, and a flask. Cold is the reason most people go in before the good part.
10. Bring someone.Two people cover more sky and, more importantly, keep each other out there. Meteor watching is sociable in a way that most observing is not.
11. Count and record if you want more from it.Noting the time, the direction and the brightness of what you see turns it into real observation, and organisations such as the International Meteor Organisation accept amateur counts.
12. Photograph with a tripod if you want to try.A camera on a tripod, a wide lens at its widest aperture, high ISO, exposures of ten to twenty seconds fired continuously. Most frames will be empty. Point roughly where you are looking and let it run.

Tips

• The Geminids in December are usually the richest shower of the year and are widely missed because it is cold. Dress properly and it is the best night of the astronomical year.
• Perseid meteors often leave persistent glowing trains for a second or two after the meteor itself. Keep watching the spot where one passed.
• A very bright meteor is a fireball, and one bright enough to cast shadows is worth reporting to the UK Meteor Network or the International Meteor Organisation.
• You do not need any equipment. Binoculars and telescopes have far too narrow a field of view and are actively unhelpful.
• Sporadic meteors appear on any clear night at a low rate. An hour under a dark sky is never wasted.

Common mistakes

• Staring straight at the radiant — Meteors there are foreshortened into short streaks. Looking 40 to 60 degrees away gives you long, dramatic trails.
• Going out for twenty minutes in the evening — Rates are lower before midnight, and the clumped distribution means a short watch can easily see nothing at all.
• Checking your phone every few minutes — One look at a bright screen destroys twenty minutes of dark adaptation and you will miss the faint majority of meteors.

Questions people ask