DRACONID METEOR SHOWER: The notoroiusly unpredictable Draconid meteor shower peaks this year on the night of Oct. 7-8. In most years, the Draconids come and go with a barely noticable peak of 10 or so meteors per hour. Occasionally, however, Earth passes through a dense clump of debris from parent comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner and a meteor storm erupts. Just last year, Europeans witnessed a faint but furious outburst of 600 per hour. There is no reason to believe that 2012 is a “storm year.” Nevertheless, northern hemisphere sky watchers are encouraged to be alert for slow-moving Draconids on Sunday night
The Draconid meteor shower might be fantastic in 2011 on the nights of October 7 and 8. Or the shower might be a washout.
The next two major meteor showers are coming up in October 2011, and there’s possible exciting news this year about the October Draconid meteor shower. That is, earlier in 2011, an astronomer predicted that the Draconids might produce a spurt of 1,000 meteors per hour for a brief time, for some lucky observers on Earth. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the moon is in the way. Still, don’t let the moon stop you. Would you want to be that guy sitting indoors watching TV while everyone is oo-ing and ah-ing over a great meteor shower going on outside – even if it is happening in moonlight? I wouldn’t either. Check the skies frequently on the nights of October 7 and 8. Better yet, go camping on those nights, and sit outside under clear dark country skies. We have our fingers crossed the Draconids will deliver for you. For more, see below.
October 7 and 8, 2011 Draconids
The radiant point for the Draconid meteor shower almost coincides with the head of the constellation Draco the Dragon in the northern sky. That’s why the Draconids are best viewed from the northern hemisphere. The Draconid shower is a real oddity, in that the radiant point stands highest in the sky as darkness falls. Unlike many meteor showers, the Draconids are more likely to fly in the evening hours than in the morning hours after midnight. This shower is usually a sleeper, producing only a handful of languid meteors per hour in most years. But watch out if the Dragon awakes! Earlier in 2011, an astronomer predicted that, this year, fiery Draco might spew forth up to a thousand meteors in a single hour. Even if the predicted outburst comes in 2011, the shower must compete with a big and brilliant waxing gibbous moon. Moonlight will surely interfere with the show. The glare of moonlight is sure to interfere with the 2011 Draconid shower, but you should try viewing it on the peak evenings of October 7 and 8, anyway, to see if the predicted outburst occurs.
