Alpha Capricornids

When are the Alpha Capricornids?

The Alpha Capricornids are active from about 13 Jul to 7 Aug each year and peak around 30 Jul. Up to about 3 meteors an hour at the peak under ideal skies (the zenithal hourly rate). For local times, the Moon and the best hours from your place, open the page for the year.

• Alpha Capricornids 2026Active 12 Jul – 7 AugPeak ~30 Jul
• Alpha Capricornids 2027Active 13 Jul – 7 AugPeak ~30 Jul

How to watch

Unlike most showers, the radiant is already up in the evening and highest around midnight, so you don’t need to stay up until dawn. Expect a few meteors an hour at best.

Get as far from streetlights as you can and give your eyes at least 20 minutes to adjust to the dark. Every glance at a bright phone screen resets that, so keep it away or use a red night mode.

Lie back on a reclining chair or a mat and take in as much sky as possible, looking about halfway up rather than straight at the radiant. Meteors can appear anywhere; the ones far from the radiant have longer trails.

You need no equipment. Binoculars and telescopes show only a tiny patch of sky, so they make you miss meteors. Dress warmly, even in summer, and plan to watch for at least an hour: meteors come in clumps and lulls.

Where do they come from?

The Alpha Capricornids come from Comet 169P/NEAT, which may be a fragment of a larger comet that broke apart thousands of years ago.

Slow meteors and bright fireballs; only a few an hour, but they can be spectacular.