Perseid meteor shower returns 2025: Up to 75 shooting stars

Heads up, star gazers: The 2025 Perseid meteor shower is back.

Get ready to catch the Perseid meteor shower, active from July 17 through August 23, 2025, with its dazzling peak overnight on August 12-13.

But there's a catch.

Normally, this shower bursts with up to 75 meteors per hour — a truly spectacular light show as Earth zooms through debris left by Comet Swift-Tuttle, a giant 16-mile-wide comet (twice the size of the dinosaur-killing asteroid), according to Nasa.

Perseids blaze across the sky at lightning speed of 37 miles per second, often leaving colourful trails and bright fireballs.

When observed from Earth, the Perseids appear to emanate from the general direction of the Perseus constellation located in the Northern Hemisphere.

The Perseids normally dazzle with up to 75 shooting stars per hour during peak nights. However, a bright full Sturgeon Moon on August 9 will still be shining at about 84% fullness during the peak nights – practically stealing the limelight and washing out all but the brightest meteors, as per Live Science. 

This lunar light pollution is expected to reduce the meteor count by about 75% compared to a moonless sky. 

Meaning: you'll see far fewer shooting stars right at peak.

The Perseids come to Earth zipping through the dusty trail left by Comet Swift-Tuttle. 

As tiny comet bits blaze into our atmosphere at staggering speeds, they ignite and dazzle us with streaks of light, Nasa explains. 

Swift-Tuttle last swung by in 1992 and won’t be back until 2125 — so the Perseids give us a cosmic fireworks show between those visits.

In short, 2025’s Perseid shower is still worth catching — just bring your patience, find a dark patch, and enjoy some of those brilliant fireballs, even if the moon is trying to outshine the show.

If you’re serious about meteor hunting, escape city lights. Find the darkest, most open space you can — think countryside, mountain tops, or remote beaches.

Bring layers, ditch the phone (that glow will kill your night vision), and be ready to wait. This isn’t Netflix — meteors don’t follow scripts.

Patience is the name of the game. 

Meteor watching is like fishing: hours of calm, with the occasional gasp-worthy moment. Sudden outbursts of meteors can happen, but they’re as predictable as your cat’s mood. 

They might last only a few hours and need either “a lot of luck or a lot of watching.” (Or both.)

So, while the Perseid peak night might get washed out by moonlight this year, you’ve still got plenty of opportunities to catch shooting stars over the next few weeks. 

Just keep your eyes on the skies — and maybe make a wish or two anyway. 

The Southern Delta Aquariid meteor shower is peaking on July 29-30. It won’t put on as flashy a show, but hey — more meteors, more magic.