astronomer , grab a mantle and go alfresco , the first meteor cascade of Fall is rig to peak tonight . The Draconids lasts from around October 6 - 10 every year , but your salutary chance to catch a shooting star in natural action is to go outside and await up tonight .
TheDraconidsmay not be the most spectacular celestial scintillation of the class , with an expected five to 10 meteors an hour , but it is one of the most convenient to watch , which makes it beguiling .
Meteors are know as shooting stars due to the flashes of spark have by the pieces of dust and rock – some as small as a cereal of sand – bite up in the atmosphere as Earth move through acomet ’s poop . Meteor meridian are when we move through the greatest number of particles in a comet stream , creating the light , bright , and most abundant shot hotshot .
Most showers are best seen in the hours before dawn , however , the Draconids are most visible in the evening because the configuration they appear to radiate from – Draco – is highest in the sky at nightfall . luckily , the flimsy waxing crescent Moon solidifying before nightfall so will not hinder any viewing .
Although meteor showers are name for the constellation they seem to appear from , in reality , they come out from all directions in the sky so you do n’t need to count in any particular direction – just up .
The Draconids are a group of ( comparatively ) slow - move meteors that pursue on the tail of the comet 21P / Giacobini - Zinner . They move at 64,000 km ( 40,000 miles ) an hour , which seems implausibly fast but is actually fairly slow in meteor terms . This think of the meteor are feeble and oftentimes burn out before they have the chance to reach the Earth ’s atm . Only the very largest render enough warmth to make them visible to the human optic .
They are also quite a young shower , only observe for the first time less than a century ago . Most displays tend to produce five or so meteors an hr but in 1933 and 1946 , the showers were especially spectacular and spectators report image up to several thousands of meteors per 60 minutes . In 2011 , around 600 shooting stars an hour were observed .
alas , we should n’t expect a repeat of 1933 , 1946 , or 2011 – stargazer predict storms of rough five to 10 meteors an 60 minutes . But if you do n’t desire to wait up until the early hours , or have unseasoned star stare partizan with you , this is the perfect exhibitioner .
Do n’t worry if this one run out to stir up . The Orionids will peak in former October followed by the Southern Taurids , Northern Taurids , and Leonids in November .
