'Meteor storm' possible as Draconids meteor shower peaks Wednesday
The Draconid meteor shower's parent comet reached its closest point to the Sun in March, which could mean a more active meteor shower this year, if the recent full Moon doesn't steal the show.
Meteor showers explained: what to know and how to watch
We call them shooting stars, but it's actually meteors that create dazzling streaks of light across our night sky.
The Draconid meteor shower, one of the first of fall, peaks Wednesday and the timing could produce what’s known as a "meteor storm."
Draconids are visible across the Northern Hemisphere from Oct. 6-10, usually producing just a few meteors per hour. This meteor shower’s origin is from comet 21P Giacobini-Zinner. As the debris from this comet burns up in Earth’s atmosphere, we see meteors, also known as shooting stars.
A fisherman watches a meteor during the Draconid meteor shower over Howick rocks in Northumberland. Picture date: Sunday October 10, 2021.
(Owen Humphreys/PA Images / Getty Images)
The timing of this year’s Draconids is good and bad. For the good news, comet 21P Giacobini-Zinner reached its closest point to the Sun in March, known as perihelion, which could mean a more active meteor shower this year. The bad news is that the full Harvest Moon happened Tuesday and is still very bright in the night sky.
OCTOBER SKYWATCHING GUIDE: SUPER HARVEST MOON AND METEOR SHOWERS ILLUMINATE THE MONTH
According to Earthsky.org, meteor storms from the Draconids have happened in our lifetime. These events have occurred as recently as 2011, with over 600 meteors per hour seen in Europe. Meteor storms with thousands of meteors per hour were documented in 1933 and 1946.
When to view the Draconid meteor shower?
The Draconids radiate from the head of the constellation Draco, the dragon, in the northern sky.
This meteor shower is a bit of an oddball because its radiant is highest in the sky just after dark and best viewed after sunset. The graphic from NASA below shows the radiant around midnight, looking west.
The Draconid meteor shower radiant point in the Draco constellation.
(NASA/JPL-Caltech / NASA)
If you look away from the Moon and get away from other sources of light pollution, your chances of seeing these meteors will be much better.
MARS SPACECRAFT GIVES CLOSEST VIEW YET OF INTERSTELLAR COMET 3I/ATLAS
According to the FOX Forecast Center, the Central U.S. and Southwest have a clear sky for Wednesday night's peak. Active weather patterns offshore in the Southeast, including an impending nor'easter and an incoming cold front, will cause some heavy cloud cover for this region.
Wednesday night cloud cover forecast for the U.S.
The next meteor showers of fall are more reliable shows, with the Orionids peaking on Oct. 21. These meteors happen when debris from Halley’s Comet burns up in Earth’s atmosphere. A waning crescent Moon will not impact viewing this meteor shower.