Your 2021 Guide to Meteor Showers: When and Where to Watch the Night Sky

Each year, Earth passes through ancient rivers of cosmic debris left behind by comets that may have shed their fragments centuries ago, and the result is a series of meteor showers that have marked human calendars since antiquity. In 2021, eight major showers will peak across the calendar, from the Quadrantids in January to the Geminids in December, offering anyone willing to seek dark skies a direct encounter with the deep history of the solar system. These fleeting streaks of light are not stars falling but ancient matter burning away in seconds — a reminder that the night sky is less a back