Draconids meteor shower 2026 and 2027

What the Draconids are

The October Draconids come from comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner, a periodic comet. Its most recent perihelion, the point of its orbit closest to the Sun, was on March 25, 2025, according to the International Meteor Organization (IMO). Each return lays down a new trail of dust. In most years Earth only grazes the old material and sees a few meteors an hour, but when the planet runs into a fresh, dense trail, the shower can erupt. The radiant lies in the head of Draco, the dragon, not far from the bright star Vega.

What they look like

IMO describes Draconid meteors as exceptionally slow. They enter the atmosphere at around a third of the speed of a Perseid, so they drift across the sky rather than flash. Slow meteors are easy to follow by eye and, on outburst nights, easy to tell apart from the faster random meteors that appear on any night.

How to watch from the US

The Draconids turn the usual advice upside down. The radiant is far north, and in early October it is highest in the northwest sky right after dark, then sinks toward the horizon as the night goes on. IMO notes that the radiant is circumpolar, meaning it never sets, from latitudes north of about 45° north, which in the lower 48 states covers a band along the northern border, from Washington and Montana across to northern Minnesota, Michigan and Maine, plus all of Alaska. Farther south, it still climbs well up the northern sky in the evening.

The best hours we show for each city usually start soon after twilight ends. Face north or northwest, lie back, and take in a wide stretch of sky. A Moon in the evening sky is the main threat to this shower, because evening is when it matters. Our moon page shows the phase for any night.

Notable history

According to IMO, the Draconids produced spectacular meteor storms in 1933 and 1946, and enhanced rates in several other years with ZHRs anywhere from about 20 to more than 500. ZHR, the zenithal hourly rate, is the number a single observer would see in an hour under a perfectly dark sky with the radiant overhead. The American Meteor Society describes a storm as an exceptionally intense display, with rates reaching thousands of meteors per hour.

Recent outbursts include 2011, when a ZHR of about 300 arrived as predicted, and 2012, when an unexpected display was rich in faint meteors picked up by radar. In 2018, IMO reports a ZHR of about 150 that lasted around four hours.

2026 and 2027 outlook

2026 (past). IMO gave a maximum of October 9 near 01h UT, with perfectly moonless conditions and no enhanced rates predicted. It suggested watching for about 24 hours around that time in case old dust trails added some activity.

2027. IMO places the maximum on October 9 near 07h UT, again with no predicted enhancement. The waxing Moon, at first quarter on October 7, will light the evening sky, which IMO notes is most troublesome before local midnight, just when the radiant is highest. IMO again advises recording background activity for about a day around the nodal time. See the 2027 calendar for other showers.