Every year in early October, our Earth passes through the debris of ice and dust left behind by the comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner in space, creating the Draconid meteor shower.
Draconid meteor shower in 2025
Activity period: The Draconid meteor shower will be active from October 6 to October 10 in 2025.
Peak activity: The Draconid meteor shower will peak on the night of October 8-9 in 2025.
When to see: The Draconid meteor shower will be best visible in the evening hours of October 8, 2025, as its radiant (the point from where the shower radiates in the sky) reaches its highest point in the sky when darkness falls. Thereafter, its altitude gradually decreases as the night progresses.
It would be difficult for you to observe the Draconid meteor shower in the pre-dawn hours, as the shower’s radiant will be located near the horizon.
Moon phase during peak activity: The moon will be in the waning gibbous phase and 94% illuminated during peak activity. As the waning gibbous moon rises in the evening and is visible all night, the moonlight will interfere with the Draconids in 2025.
Expected meteors during peak activity: The Draconids are a variable shower, producing around 10 meteors per hour during peak activity under ideal conditions in normal years. However, occasionally (when the Dragon wakes up!), you can expect a Draconid storm, which produces several thousand meteors per hour. This possibility keeps many sky watchers outside during the activity period of this shower.
Perhaps, this year, you can expect a Draconid storm or at least a Draconid outburst because the parent comet of the Draconid meteor shower, Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner, reached perihelion in March 2025.
Where to look: The Draconid meteor shower radiates from near the bright star Vega. Look high in the northwestern sky in the evening hours to identify Vega.
Vega is the fifth brightest star in the night sky and is easily noticeable even from light-polluted areas.
Visibility of the shower: The Draconid meteor shower will be favorable to observers in the Northern Hemisphere, especially those located in the high-northern latitudes (from 40°N to 60°N).
Observers located in the high-northern latitudes will see an excellent display of the shower, where the radiant reaches almost overhead in the sky (more than 70° altitude) in the early evening hours.
The Draconid meteor shower will not be visible from the Southern Hemisphere, where the radiant never rises much above the horizon.
Meteor velocity: Draconid meteors enter the Earth’s atmosphere at about 20 km/s (72,000 km/h). So they appear slow-moving compared to other meteor showers.
How the Draconid meteor shower got its name
Meteor showers are usually named after a constellation in which the radiant lies during peak activity or after a bright star closest to the radiant.
The Draconid meteor shower got its name from the constellation Draco, as the shower’s radiant is located in the constellation Draco during peak activity.
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