Get ready to mark your calendars and clean your favorite pair of binoculars. 2023 is set to be an impressive year when it comes to viewing the night sky here in New Mexico. Annual meteor showers, eclipses, and more will light up your skies – and your life – next year. Which ones do you look forward to most?

1. Quadrantids Meteor Shower, January 3rd
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center/Flickr
The Quandrantids is a fascinating, above-average meteor shower that doesn't usually get the love it deserves. You can expect to see up to 40 meteors streaking across the sky per hour. It runs every year from January 1st to January 5th, but it peaks on the night of the 3rd. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Bootes, but they'll be visible all over the sky.
2. Lyrids meteor shower, April 22
Phillip Chee/Flickr
During the second annual meteor shower of the year, you can expect to see a meteor shoot across the sky every three minutes. There will be just thin sliver of a crescent moon this night, so you'll have a few hours before bedtime to watch the light show.
3. Eta Aquarids meteor shower, May 6
Noriaki Tanaka/Flickr
This early summer meteor shower will appear even more dramatic than its spring predecessor, where you can expect to spot an average of a meteor every other minute at its peak. The best viewing time for this shower is just after midnight near the Aquarius constellation but you can see the meteors from any part of the sky that night.

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4. Delta Aquarids meteor shower, July 28
Juan Fco. Marrero/Flickr
Much like April's Lyrids meteor shower, you can expect to see a meteor every three minutes during this shower. The moon will be nearly full that evening, so you may have a limited amount of time to get the best view of the meteors streaming across a dark sky. However, the effort is still worth the view so set aside a little time that evening to watch the meteor shower.
5. Perseids meteor shower, August 12
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center/Flickr
Just a couple weeks after the Delta meteor shower, you'll be treated to the impressive Perseids shower. During this, you can expect to spot a meteor per minute, many appearing bright and showy across the sky. Skies this year should be just about dark enough for a really good view of the shower - cloud cover depending.
6. Orionids meteor shower, October 21
Jeff Sullivan/Flickr
This meteor shower will take place during a quarter moon, but you can still catch a view of meteors flitting across the sky on its peak night after midnight, when the moon sets. Find a dark location with little light pollution and you can expect to see an average of one meteor every three minutes.
7. Geminids meteor shower, December 13
Mike Lewinski/Flickr
Finish off the year with one of the most impressive meteor showers to brighten up our skies. At its peak, you can expect to see upwards of a hundred or more meteors shoot across the sky each hour. Perhaps the best news of all: it's a new moon at this time, so the skies will be nice and dark - perfect for an amazing show.

Those are some impressive sights to see this year! For the best views of those night shows, you’ll want to pay a visit to some of New Mexico’s darkest places that have little to no light pollution. Read about our suggestions in These Are Some Of The Darkest Places In New Mexico And You’ll Want To Visit.

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More to Explore

New Mexico Meteor Shower

Tori Jane | July 29, 2022

When is the next meteor shower in New Mexico?  

Well, the “next” meteor shower in New Mexico is subjective and depends on when you’re reading this, but we can say that, reliably, you’ll likely see about 30 meteor showers visible to the naked eye annually. Some of the largest meteor showers in New Mexico (and everywhere really) include famous showers like the Perseids Meteor Shower, which takes place in July and August, and the Orionids, which takes place in October and November. From time to time, you’ll have a rare meteor shower event in which something special happens, like the earth passing through the tail of a comet that’s not usually present. It’s always a good time for a meteor shower in New Mexico!  

Where are the best places for stargazing in New Mexico?  

So, that being said, where are some of the best places to go stargazing in New Mexico? First and foremost, you’re going to want to try and find some of the wonderful dark sky cities in New Mexico; these are cities and towns that use special lighting at night to greatly reduce the amount of light pollution they emit, resulting in much darker skies perfect for stargazing. Some of our favorite locations for New Mexico stargazing include the Capulin Volcano National Monument, Clayton Lake State Park, the Fort Union National Monument, and the oh-so-epic Cosmic Campground, which has the honor of having been the first-ever International Dark Sky Sanctuary in the Northern Hemisphere.  

What are some upcoming celestial events in New Mexico?  

This depends on what time of year you’re reading this! There are all kinds of amazing celestial events in New Mexico going on all year round – it's great to know what to expect and when. Some of the more predictable celestial events include meteor showers – of which there are usually about 30 per year – as well as lunar phases and things like eclipses. Sometimes, we are even treated to something like a rare solar eclipse! Other celestial events that occur at different times include planetary conjunctions and various satellite sightings.  

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