Night Sky Platform
The Observing Year
A month-by-month guide to recurring sky events — meteor-shower peaks, equinoxes, and solstices — written without years, because they recur. Dated instants for a specific year are in the observing calendar at /events; for a specific night, the Tonight Observing Dashboard composes the Sun, Moon, and planet times for your location.
Night SkyReference data
A month-by-month guide
Recurring sky events by month, written without years because they repeat. Dated instants for a given year — computed here and checked against NASA and US Naval Observatory tables — are in the observing calendar.
January
- Quadrantids peak — The Quadrantids peak (night of 3–4 January), radiating from bootes.
March
- March Equinox — Day and night are nearly equal; the Sun crosses the celestial equator moving north.
April
- Lyrids peak — The Lyrids peak (night of 22–23 April), radiating from lyra.
May
- Eta Aquariids peak — The Eta Aquariids peak (night of 5–6 May), radiating from aquarius.
June
- June Solstice — The Sun reaches its northernmost point — the longest day in the Northern Hemisphere, the shortest in the Southern.
August
- Perseids peak — The Perseids peak (night of 12–13 August), radiating from perseus.
September
- September Equinox — The Sun crosses the celestial equator moving south; day and night are again nearly equal.
October
- Orionids peak — The Orionids peak (night of 21–22 October), radiating from orion.
November
- Leonids peak — The Leonids peak (night of 17–18 November), radiating from leo.
- Taurids peak — The Taurids peak (early November), radiating from taurus.
December
- December Solstice — The Sun reaches its southernmost point — the longest night in the Northern Hemisphere.
- Geminids peak — The Geminids peak (night of 13–14 December), radiating from gemini.
Related in the Knowledge Graph
Sources & references
The primary and reference sources this topic draws on.
- IMOInternational Meteor Organization
Meteor shower activity, radiants, and peak forecasts.
- US Naval ObservatoryUnited States Naval Observatory
Precise time, almanac data, Sun/Moon rise-set, and phases.