Astro-Observer

Meteor showers

Kappa Cygnid Meteor Shower

By Astro-Observer · Last reviewed November 8, 2026

Active
August 3 – August 28
Peak
Around August 16–17
Peak rate (ZHR)
3 (up to about 6 in enhanced years)
Radiant
Draco (19h 04m, +59°)
Speed
23 km/s (slow)
Parent asteroid
2021 HK12
Best seen from
Northern Hemisphere
Best time
All night, best in the evening and around midnight while the radiant is high

Next peaks

Expected peak (UTC)Moon at peakMoonlight
August 17, 2027, around 12h Full Moon, 100% lit Bright Moon
August 16, 2028, around 18h Waning crescent, 18% lit Little or none

Computed from the shower's peak solar longitude (λ☉ 144°). Real peaks can come a few hours early or late, and you will see meteors on the nights either side. The peak hour may be in daylight where you are; watch the darkest hours of the nearest night.

The Kappa Cygnids are a quiet August shower that overlaps the Perseids but looks different: slow meteors, and now and then a fireball that flares at the end. Activity seems to pick up about every seven years.

Where the meteors come from

No comet is known to feed the stream. The IAU Meteor Data Center lists the near-Earth asteroid 2021 HK12 as a possible parent; it orbits the Sun about every six years on a path tilted 47 degrees to Earth's. The IMO names no parent. The meteoroids arrive at a gentle 23 km/s.

When to watch

The shower is active through most of August, peaking around August 17; the table above gives the peak and the Moon. From mid-northern latitudes the radiant never sets and is about 70 degrees up in the north in the late evening, so, unusually, the evening and the hours around midnight are best.

How to find the radiant

Despite the name, the listed radiant is just inside Draco, and the meteors really come from a large area spread over Cygnus, Lyra and Draco. Start at Vega, nearly overhead on August evenings. The listed radiant is about 20 degrees north of it, some 6 degrees beyond Kappa Cygni at the tip of the Swan's northern wing. From southern mid-latitudes it does not rise at all.

What to expect

With a ZHR of 3 and the radiant high, a dark site gives perhaps one or two an hour around the peak in an ordinary year, a few more in an enhanced year, and the suburbs one at best. The meteors are slow, and the population index of 3.0 means most are faint, but occasional fireballs with bright end flares are a feature of the shower.

Viewing tips

  • Keep watching after the Perseid peak: this maximum follows a few days later.
  • Look for slow meteors from overhead or the north; Perseids are fast, from the northeast.
  • Be generous: slow meteors from Cygnus, Lyra or Draco all count.
  • Leave a camera running for fireballs.

History and notable displays

Miklós Konkoly-Thege first observed the shower in 1874, and William F. Denning named it in 1893. Enhanced activity in 2007, 2014 and 2021 supports a period of about seven years; in 2021 visual observers measured a peak ZHR of about 6. Proposed parents include the asteroids 2008 ED69 and 2021 HK12.

About the numbers. The ZHR (zenithal hourly rate) is how many meteors one observer would see in an hour under a perfectly dark sky with the radiant straight overhead. Real counts are almost always lower: under suburban skies, or with the radiant low, expect a half to a quarter of it, or less.

Sources

Checked November 8, 2026.