Most meteor showers are visible at night. To see them, just find a dark sky and look up! But what about meteor showers that are mostly active during the daytime? The Arietids are one such shower. In fact, they are the most active daytime meteor shower.
The Arietids are difficult to observe with the naked eye because their radiant — the point from which the meteors appear to radiate — appears very close to the sun during peak activity. They produce the maximum number of meteors when the sun is almost overhead. As a result, the sun’s glare washes out most of the meteors.
However, you don’t need to worry. There is a narrow window during which you can observe the shower with the naked eye. Here’s everything you need to know about the shower in 2026:
Daytime Arietid meteor shower in 2026
Activity period: The Daytime Arietid meteor shower will be active from May 29 to June 17 and will peak on June 10, 2026.
When to see: As seen from mid-northern latitudes, the shower’s radiant rises around 3:00 a.m. local time and reaches low in the eastern sky before sunrise. Therefore, the shower will be best visible during the last dark hour before dawn (around 4:00 a.m. local time) on June 10, 2026. Once the sun comes up, you will not see any meteors!
Moon phase during peak activity: In 2026, during the peak morning, a waning crescent moon will be visible in the eastern sky before sunrise. As a result, moonlight will interfere with the Daytime Arietid meteor shower. Try to observe the shower from a location in the moon’s shadow or find a distant object to block the moon.
Expected meteors during peak activity: Using radar and radio equipment, astronomers detect an average of 60 meteors per hour in broad daylight. This rate can occasionally increase to as many as 200 meteors per hour.
Where to look: Arietid meteors radiate from the faint constellation Aries. However, you don’t need to identify the constellation in order to observe the shower.
To see these meteors, look toward the eastern horizon during the last dark hour before dawn. In 2026, the shower’s radiant will appear just above reddish Mars.
History of the Daytime Arietid meteor shower
The daytime Arietid meteor shower was discovered in 1947, when astronomers at Jodrell Bank Observatory in England detected meteors using radio equipment between May 30 and June 17. They visually observed the meteors by monitoring a cathode-ray tube display and recorded about 20 to 40 meteors per hour.
The following year, in 1948, astronomers at Jodrell Bank Observatory used photographic methods to record the meteors. They detected the meteors between May 25 and June 11. The shower peaked on June 4, reaching an hourly rate of 60 meteors.
From the numerous studies conducted at Jodrell Bank Observatory, two of which are cited above, the diameter of the radiant appears to be about 3°, while the maximum hourly rate ranges from 54 to 76 meteors.
The Arietids have been detected in every major radar study since 1947. The most recent radar survey to detect the Arietids was conducted using the Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar (CMOR). Researchers determined 3,592 meteor orbits for this stream between 2002 and 2008. The shower reached its peak on June 12. Its activity period extended from May 23 to July 1, and its geocentric velocity was measured at 39.1 km/s.
References
Meteor Showers – An Annotated Catalog
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