Meteor Showers

This is the one meteor shower of the year that is best viewed in the early evening hours. A minor meteor shower that runs Oct. 6-10, it produces about 10 shooting stars an hour. The first-quarter moon will blot out all but the brightest meteors from this shower, created by comet 21P Giacobini-Zinner.

Comet Haley is the parent of this meteor shower, which produces about 20 shooting stars an hour at its peak. The shower runs from Oct. 2-Nov. 7. The thin, crescent moon will leave mostly dark skies during the peak.

What makes this long-running meteor shower unique is that it consists of two separate streams — the first created by grain dust left behind by Asteroid 2004/TG10, and the second by dust grains left behind by Comet 2P/Encke. It runs Sept. 7-Dec. 10. A nearly full moon at the peak will make viewing difficult.