The Perseids may be the summer meteor shower everyone marks on the calendar, but they are not the only reason to look up this season.
From mid-July through late August, Earth plows through several other streams of comet and asteroid debris, triggering a series of lesser-known meteor showers across Northern Hemisphere skies.
Most will not deliver the dazzling hourly rates of the Perseids, and moonlight will spoil some peak nights in 2026. But for patient skywatchers under dark skies, these lesser-known showers can still serve up bright fireballs, faint streaks and a preview of the main event to come.
The duration in days of a shower we provide here is somewhat arbitrary, since the beginning and ending are gradual and indefinite. While the hourly rates from these other meteor streams provide but a fraction of the numbers produced by the Perseids, combined, overall, they provide a wide variety of meteors of differing colors, speeds and trajectories.
Capricornids
First to appear are the Capricornids, starting around July 10, with their maximu...
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