Here’s What You Need to Know About This Week’s Draconid Meteor Shower

With the moon barely visible, the annual Draconid metor shower will put on a display of shooting stars the evenings of Oct. 8 and 9.

Shooting from the mouth of the northern constellation Draco the Dragon, the Draconid meteor shower will be most visible in the Northern Hemisphere, particularly in the U.S., Canada, Europe and northern Asia.

The Draconid showers occur when the Earth’s orbit crosses path with that of Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner, where debris from the comet burns up in Earth’s atmosphere. Michael Giacobini discovered the comet on December 20, 1900.

The waning crescent moon isn’t expected to rise until the morning, so the night’s sky should be plenty dark to view the meteor shower. Find a dark, open sky and plan to spend a few hours looking north for the showers.