Meteor Shower Guide

Want to know when the next meteor shower happens? You have found the answer: Meteor Shower Guide is your complete pocket reference for the year's meteor showers.

Basic Features

Includes all meteor showers on the International Meteor Shower working visual list and the American Meteor Society's Weak Meteor Showers list. Data for virtually every observable meteor shower is included.

 
 

Meteor Shower Guide does not provide indepth information on meteor shower. For that please consult the Further Reading section below for suggested material.

 

Designed for the iPhone running iOS version 4.0 and higher. No Internet connection required. Will run on the iPad but future version will take advantage of its screen. Uses either Wifi or GPS to sense location.

 

Home Screen

You can see full screen shots at Meteor Shower Guides homepage on iTunes. Below is a part of the catalog listing illustrating the available information.

Moon Phase
Graphical representation of the moon's phase at the time of maximum shower.
Shower Intensity Graph
This is an approximation of the showers strength where maximum is a Zenith Hourly Rate (ZHR) of 120 meteors per hour. Consult the showers detailed information for more accurate estimate of hourly rates.
Forecast Maximum Date
The day on which the shower reaches maximum strength. This calculation is based on past data, primarily visual and video observations of the meteor shower.
 

Detail Screen

Tapping a shower name will display a more detailed information screen shown on the left here. After a brief summary more detail for the shower peak is displayed.

Note the peak date and time forecast in this example from the 2011 Perseid meteor shower. In this case the peak time is the early morning of August 13th. So the highest amount of meteors are likely to occur from after sunset on August 12th to the next morning, the 13th.

Also note that the forecasted peak date and time is dependant on your device's time zone setting, not your location coordinates. The sun rise and sun set times are calculated using latitude and longitude.

The outlook for meteor shower summary is an estimation of the skies darkness. The presence of the moon, particularly after midnight, significantly affects a meteor shower's display. Certainly you can observer with a bright moon but you will see far fewer meteors.

 

Contact Us!

Have a question about or suggestion for Meteor Shower Guide? Contact us! Please review the FAQ and reference links below as well.

Meteor Shower Guide was created to be the most informative app for meteor showers. I don't just write code, I watch meteor showers. New and improved features are being planned for future versions.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. Can you set a reminder for upcoming meteor showers?

    No, not yet. That's a feature to be added and any feedback on how you would like this done is welcome.

  2. What is the Advanced Catalog?

    The Advanced Catalog includes the AMS Weak Meteor shower list. Those showers are very weak with less certainty in their intensity and timing.

  3. Can I save the catalog year?

    The current version does not save the catalog year. A future version may include that, it would be handy near the end of the year.

  4. Why can't I look past 2029?

    The forecasts accuracy would get progressively worse further into the future (or past). The algorithm used to translate solar longitude to a date only works well for a few decades centered around J2000.

 

Further Reading

Recommended sources for meteor shower information on the web:

For the latest news and upcoming events check SpaceWeather and EarthSky.

 

Release History