Come October 8 and sky gazers will be treated with the biggest meteor shower of a lifetime - the Draconid shower is expected to produce 1,000 meteors per hour this year.
Normally, the Draconids (so-named because its meteors appear to radiate from the northern constellation Draco) are a weak shower producing perhaps 10 meteors per hour. However, this shower has proved strongly variable in the past.
The 2011 Draconid outburst is expected to occur between 17:00 and 18:00 Universal Time on October 8, 2011. The best locations from which to view the shower, which is only visible in the northern hemisphere, will be Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.
Though the peak of the outburst will occur during daylight in Canada, the shower is expected to continue to produce meteors, albeit it at a reduced level, into the evening of October 8. So Canadians will still have a chance to see the meteor shower.
“And you never know", says University of Western Ontario astronomer Paul Wiegert, “meteor showers are as difficult to predict as rain showers. The Draconids have surprised us before, and they may do so again. I'd encourage anyone outside on the night of October the 8th to look to the northern skies, just in case.”
{{/usCountry}}“And you never know", says University of Western Ontario astronomer Paul Wiegert, “meteor showers are as difficult to predict as rain showers. The Draconids have surprised us before, and they may do so again. I'd encourage anyone outside on the night of October the 8th to look to the northern skies, just in case.”
{{/usCountry}}Wiegert is presenting his results at this week's CASCA 2011 meeting in Ontario, Canada.