The Draconid meteor shower is peaking this week. Here’s what to know

By Gina Park, CNN

(CNN) — Two meteor showers are set to captivate sky-gazers as they peak in October, with the Draconids making a brief appearance this week and the Orionids putting on more of a celestial show later this month.

The Draconid meteor shower, which is known to produce meteors during the evening rather than early morning, is set to peak at 3 p.m. ET Wednesday, according to EarthSky.

“The Draconids are a very quick shower,” said Robert Lunsford, fireball report coordinator for the American Meteor Society. “We on Earth pass through debris (from the comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner) in just a few days, and the main maximum (activity) actually only lasts a few hours. So it’s here and gone just like that.”

This year, the shower peaks just a few days after October’s supermoon, The silvery orb was reaching its nearest point to our planet, making it appear larger and fuller. It’s unlikely that sky-gazers will see much Draconid activity because the brightness of the moon will continue to block most visible activity.

But for die-hard sky-watchers hoping to spot meteors, it’s recommended to look “toward the northern part of the sky,” Lunsford said.

“They’ll be shooting from the head of (the constellation) Draco, which at that time of night lies very high in the northern sky, and as the night progresses it circles down toward the northwestern horizon,” he added.

Since the shower only lasts a few hours and the moon will block most visibility later in the night, the best time for viewing would be right as it gets dark, according to Lunsford. “If you’re looking toward the north and you see a slow one (meteor) come from overhead, chances are it’s probably a Draconid,” he said. “But even on moonless nights, the rate is only maybe one an hour at the peak. So with the moonlight, it may even be less.”

But don’t worry. The Orionids, which peak in a few weeks, are expected to produce 10 to 20 meteors per hour, and the peak will fall on a new moon, so you’ll be able to see more meteors then.

A showstopping appearance in the 1930s

The Draconid meteor shower has been known to produce meteor storms. The first documented storm happened in 1933 and produced over 1,000 meteors in the span of an hour, according to Lunsford.

Rather than being spread out, the debris produced by the shower’s parent comet, 21P/Giacobini-Zinner, is mostly concentrated at its center.

When Earth crosses paths with this point of a comet’s orbit, a meteor storm occurs, producing an outburst of meteors streaking across the sky.

For the Draconids, a meteor storm happens around once every six years, and “during the ‘90s and early 2000s the strongest it’s been is about 400 an hour,” Lunsford said.

Upcoming meteor showers

Here are the peak dates of other meteor showers anticipated this year, according to the American Meteor Society and EarthSky.

• Orionids: October 20-21
• Southern Taurids: November 4-5
• Northern Taurids: November 11-12
• Leonids: November 16-17
• Geminids: December 13-14
• Ursids: December 21-22

Upcoming supermoons

Look out for two more full moons this year that are consecutive supermoon events:

• November 5: Beaver moon
• December 4: Cold moon

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