A stunning meteor shower will streak across the sky tonight and could remain visible until the early morning hours of Tuesday.
The event is known as the Draconid meteor shower, which occurs every October. It gets its name from the constellation Draco the Dragon, because the meteors seem to come from its direction.
Uniquely, they are most visible in the hours just after nightfall, meaning you don’t have to stay up late to witness this dazzling spectacle.
These meteors will be in view of our planet from October 6 to 10, but experts predict the shower will peak on Monday, October 7 at 11pm ET (4am UK).
The elusive Draconid meteor shower will streak across the sky tonight and may remain visible until the early morning hours of Tuesday
That means the best time to watch is tonight. Not only because the shower reaches its peak, but also because the waxing crescent moon sets a few hours after sunset, making the shooting stars stand out extra brightly against a moonless sky.
You don’t have to locate a specific point in the night sky to see the Draconids.
They fly in all directions, so make sure you have as wide a view as possible.
Sitting in a reclining lawn chair or lying on your back in an area without buildings, trees or other objects that might obscure your view will give you the best chance of seeing the shower.
If you live in an urban area, you may want to choose a more rural viewing location to eliminate the dimming effects of light pollution.
The Draconid meteor shower is relatively sparse, producing about 10 visible meteors per hour.
These meteors move slower than others, so they remain visible for one to two seconds as they fly past our planet.
The Draconid shower gets its name from the constellation Draco the Dragon.
But these meteors are also called the Giacobinids, after Michel Giacobini, the French astronomer who discovered them in 1900.
The meteors come from comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner, a small comet one mile wide that orbits the sun about every six and a half years.
The Draconid Rain gets its name from the fact that they appear to come from the direction of the constellation Draco the Dragon
As this comet orbits the sun, it ejects a trail of rocks, dust and ice into space. This debris trail is what creates the Draconids.
Every October, as Earth approaches the comet’s debris trail, the Draconids become visible in the night sky, creating a meteor shower.
Although Draconid rain is generally considered ‘scarce’, it can also be unpredictable. In some years it has surprised stargazers with hundreds or even thousands of shooting stars per hour.
That’s because the comet’s debris isn’t spread evenly around its orbit; much of it is actually concentrated directly around the comet.
This means that Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner may occasionally produce a ‘meteor storm’ as it approaches our planet, releasing many more meteors than normal.
According to EarthSky, this happened in 1933 and 1946, with several thousand meteors per hour.
The Draconids also occurred in above-average numbers in 1985, 1998 and 2018, but these were not meteor storms.
In 2011, observers in Europe saw more than 600 meteors per hour during this rain shower.
While it’s unlikely we’ll see a Draconid storm this week, there’s still a chance.
Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner’s last perihelion (or closest approach to the Sun) was on September 10, 2018. That night, the comet came closer to Earth than it has in 72 years, resulting in a meteor burst that caused 100 shootings. stars per hour.
The comet’s next perihelon will occur in six months on March 29, 2025, meaning it is now relatively close to Earth – offering a small chance of seeing a higher-than-average number of shooting stars this week.
But as long as it’s a clear night where you are, you should be able to see at least several shooting stars as the Draconids make their annual journey past our planet.