Gamma Normids Meteor Shower Is About to Peak in March. When and How to Catch It?

In March, right after the Blood Moon, the night sky offers another celestial event – γ-Normid Meteor Shower (Gamma Normids). It is active from 25th February till 28th March, but its peak activity is from 14th to 15th March.

Facts About γ-Normid Meteor Shower

The Gamma Normids is a lesser-known but still intriguing annual meteor shower. The radiant – the point in the sky from which the meteors appear to originate – is located near the star Gamma² Normae ( in Latin γ²  Nor) in the constellation Norma. 

It’s quite a weak shower, producing about six meteors per hour at its peak. By comparison, one of the most well-known meteor showers, the Perseids, generates up to 150 meteors per hour at its peak activity in August! The Geminids, another major meteor shower peaking in mid-December, produces up to 120 meteors per hour. However, Gamma Normids can still be worth watching, especially from a dark-sky location.

The γ-Normids tend to produce medium-speed meteors (around 56 km/s) and can occasionally have bright fireballs.

Intriguingly, the parent body – the comet or asteroid responsible for the debris – is unknown, making this shower a bit more mysterious and insufficiently researched.

What Causes a Meteor Shower?

A meteor shower is caused by Earth passing through a stream of debris left behind by a comet or, more rarely, an asteroid. These tiny fragments, often no bigger than grains of sand, enter Earth’s atmosphere at high speeds (tens of kilometres per second!) and heat up due to friction. This process causes them to glow, creating bright streaks of light known as meteors. Larger particles can produce fireballs and exceptionally bright meteors.

Every year, Earth follows the same orbit and passes through these trials of debris clouds at the same time, which is why meteor showers are annual events.

Can You See Gamma Normids 2025 From the UK?

Unfortunately, no. 

This meteor shower is not visible from the Northern Hemisphere. Only people from the Southern Hemisphere are lucky to observe this meteor shower.

The Gamma Normid meteor shower can be seen from any location where its radiant point, situated in the constellation Norma, appears above the horizon—which occurs exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere.

But If You Still Wish To Observe the Gamma Normids…

….You have an opportunity to do it thanks to the up-to-date technologies! Visit the NASA Meteor Shower Portal and keep track of the activity of this meteor shower. You can move the sky globe to see different areas of the sky with different constellations. Colored dots indicate shower meteors while white dots indicate sporadic activity. The large orange disk indicates the position of the sun so little activity will be seen in that area of the sky.

How To Watch The γ-Normid Meteor Shower Online?

You can check last year’s live stream to get an idea of what to expect:

And there is a high possibility that this YouTube channel will schedule a livestream of γ-Normid Meteor Shower this year on 14 or 15 March as well. So, you will also have an opportunity to make a wish on a shooting star this March.

March is generally considered a quiet month for meteor activity, with no major showers active and only a few weak minor showers producing activity. Nevertheless, it’s amazing to realize how much is happening in the sky above us. Even if we cannot witness all the cosmic marvels – it is still fascinating and mysterious.