The Draconid meteor shower is set to brighten the sky Thursday night, offering viewers a celestial display that does not require staying awake until long after midnight. The shower is expected to reach its peak at 9 p.m. ET Thursday.

Depending on location, viewers may continue seeing meteors into the early hours of Friday morning, according to EarthSky. Unlike many meteor showers, however, the Draconids are particularly suited to evening viewing.

The best views are expected across the Northern Hemisphere. People in the Southern Hemisphere may still glimpse a few meteors by looking near the horizon shortly after darkness falls.

Viewing conditions could benefit from the waning crescent moon, which is not expected to shine brightly enough to obscure the shower. As many as 10 meteors may streak across the sky each hour.

Draconid meteors also move more slowly than those associated with many other showers. Each one can remain visible for about one or two seconds, rather than disappearing in a fraction of a second.

Most meteor showers reach their peak during the early morning hours. The Draconids stand apart because they are best viewed immediately after nightfall and throughout the evening, when their radiant point is favorably positioned.

A meteor shower’s radiant point is the area of the night sky from which its meteors appear to emerge. For the Draconids, that point lies in the direction of Draco the Dragon, the constellation that gives the shower its name.

Eltanin and Rastaban, two stars forming the dragon’s head, appear in the far northern sky during October, according to EarthSky. Viewers can look broadly upward rather than focusing only on that part of the sky.

Meteor showers occur when Earth moves through trails of debris left by comets and asteroids. Those objects release pieces of rock and ice as they travel around the sun, creating material that can produce visible streaks when Earth crosses its path.

The Draconids occur when Earth intersects a debris trail from comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner. The encounter happens each October as the planet approaches the comet’s orbit.

The shower is also known as the Giacobinids, a name honoring Michel Giacobini. He discovered the celestial object in 1900.

Although the Draconids are considered smaller than some of the major meteor showers expected later in the year, they carry the intriguing possibility of a meteor storm. Such an event can produce hundreds or even thousands of visible meteors per hour.

Meteor storms may occur when debris remains concentrated close to its comet instead of spreading widely along the trail. The possibility can also depend on how closely the comet approaches Earth while orbiting the sun.

Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner completes an orbit around the sun about once every seven years. Scientists reported increased meteor activity in September 2018, when the comet reached the closest point to Earth in that orbit.

The comet approached Earth again in March 2025 and remains relatively close this year. Because the Draconid shower is unpredictable, EarthSky says an outburst is always possible, though the standard expectation remains about 10 meteors per hour.

No special equipment is necessary to watch the shower. Viewers can sit in a reclining lawn chair or lie on their backs, then look upward with the widest possible view of the sky.

Distance from artificial light can provide better viewing conditions. Finding a darker location allows the sky to be seen more clearly while viewers wait for the shower’s slow moving meteors to appear.

The Draconids arrive as more meteor showers approach toward the end of the year. The American Meteor Society provides peak dates for upcoming celestial events, but Thursday’s shower offers an unusually convenient chance to watch before the night grows late.