Meteor shower Camelopardalids may be viewable from Chicago sky

If you've ever wanted to wish upon a shooting star, you may have plenty of chances late tonight and into early Saturday morning.

A possible meteor shower may come into view for the Chicago area after midnight Friday night. The shower, May Camelopardalids, is named after the constellation of stars Camelopardalis - the giraffe - from which the meteors appear to radiate.

Chicago-area weather should be clear enough to see the display in the northern sky, though star gazers are encouraged to get away from urban light pollution for the best view.

The shower is unique in that this will be the first time the Earth has crossed the path of the newly discovered 209P/LINEAR comet - so the visibility and quantity of meteors are unknown. But if a large amount of matter is left behind from the comet, hundreds of meteors per hour could be visible in the Earth's sky.

Meteors are usually faint, but with a dark sky, no optical aid should be needed.

Send us your photos from the meteor shower through Useeit.

NASA is also hosting a live chat and livestream video of the shower here.