Scientists say the outburst, if it occurs, could happen around 11:30 p.m.

The once-a-year summer meteor shower is reaching its zenith, and we’re in for a cosmic spectacle… weather permitting.

Hint: you’ll have to drive.

Tonight and early this morning! Find a flat place and look up!

Dust from the 209/LINEAR comet will create the Camelopardalid meteor shower, which NASA says could feature more than 200 meteors per hour.

Hey, cool: There will be a meteor shower (probably) visible over D.C. this weekend.

The Perseid meteor shower is dazzling the August skies once again this weekend.

The Supermoon is going to light up the evening sky tomorrow. Unfortunately, it’s also going to block out an even more dazzling cosmic display—the annual Eta Aquarid meteor shower.

The fall weather may be appealing, but the gloomy skies the past couple of days haven’t really helped anyone looking up for Comet Hartley 2, which made it’s closest pass yesterday. It’s still pretty darn close (just 11 million miles away!), so if the skies clear up you can find the icy comet to the left of Taurus in the constellation Auriga, starting a little after 10 p.m. Meanwhile, NASA’s Deep Impact probe, on its EPOXI mission we discussed last week, ventures closer to Hartley every day, preparing for its fly-by on November 4.

Aurorae and meteors light up the sky this week. Let’s discuss the unusually low curtains of light first, and then you can skip below the fold for our annual August meteor shower.