Eyes To The Skies For Draconid Meteor Shower

Edited byMark Dunphy

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This weekend sees the peak of the Draconid meteor shower, which is likely to become a stunning, unmissable nightime spectacle. Already people have been spotting these ‘shooting stars’ as their intensity increases throughout the week.

Astronomers are optimistic that this year’s Draconid meteor shower will produce a several meteors each minute, unlike the usual handful of meteors per hour.

All Saturday night, the Draconid meteors will appear to come from a source in the northern sky in a constellation called Draco, meaning ‘The Dragon’.

“We’re hoping for an outburst for this year’s Draconid meteor shower on Saturday night,” said David Moore, Chairman of Astronomy Ireland. “Even with the Moon these meteors will be bright enough to be easily seen throughout the night. Maybe we might even get a meteor ‘storm’!”

For more details on the Nationwide Draconid Meteor Watch, please visit www.astronomy.ie.

A meteor falling earthwards. The Draconid meteor shower is expected on October 8, 2011, and may feature up to 1000 meteors falling her hour, according to some astronomers. Almost all meteors burn up and disintegrate long before reaching the surface of the Earth. Image NASA

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