The twelve showers worth tracking

The IAU Meteor Data Center lists 113 established showers. Twelve of them are strong enough, regular enough and well enough observed to be worth planning a night around; the rest are for people counting with cameras. These are those twelve, with the numbers that decide whether one of them is worth your evening.

What the columns mean

ZHR: Zenithal hourly rate: what one observer would count under a magnitude 6.5 sky with the radiant straight overhead. It is a ceiling, not a forecast — you will always see fewer.
r (population index): The ratio between the counts of successive magnitude classes. Low r means a stream rich in bright meteors that survives a compromised sky; high r means you need real darkness. Every magnitude of sky glow divides your count by r.
Radiant declination: Sets the geometry. The radiant's highest possible altitude is 90° minus the difference between your latitude and this figure, so a radiant at +58° is unreachable from Sydney and one at −16° is low from London.
Speed: Geocentric velocity. Fast meteors are shorter-lived, brighter for a given mass and more likely to leave a persistent train; slow ones are easier to notice and to photograph.
Window: How many days the shower is active for. A long window means cloud on the peak night is survivable; a short one means it is not.

All twelve, in 2026 peak order

Shower	2026 peak	Moon	ZHR	r	Dec	Speed	Window	Best from
Quadrantids	3 Jan	100%	110	2.1	+49.8°	40.4	16 d	North
April Lyrids	22 Apr	36%	18	2.1	+33.4°	46.6	17 d	North
eta-Aquariids	6 May	81%	50	2.4	−0.5°	66.3	39 d	Both
Southern delta-Aquariids	31 Jul	96%	25	3.2	−16.1°	40.6	43 d	Both
Perseids	13 Aug	0%	100	2.2	+57.9°	58.8	39 d	North
October Draconids	9 Oct	3%	5	2.6	+55.9°	20.8	5 d	North
Orionids	21 Oct	79%	20	2.5	+15.7°	66.1	37 d	Both
Southern Taurids	5 Nov	12%	7	2.3	+13.9°	27.4	72 d	Both
Northern Taurids	12 Nov	11%	5	2.3	+22.8°	28.2	52 d	Both
Leonids	17 Nov	55%	12.5	2.5	+21.8°	70.3	25 d	Both
Geminids	14 Dec	25%	150	2.6	+32.3°	33.8	17 d	North
Ursids	22 Dec	98%	10	2.8	+75.8°	32.7	10 d	North

Peak instants and Moon illumination are computed for 2026; every other column is a property of the stream and does not change year to year. Activity windows are the 2026 calendar dates for the tabulated solar longitudes — they shift by up to a day in other years.