It's going to be a wonderful night this week for sky observers as there is going to be yet another great reason to look up to the sky.
Just toward the end of last month, the world got to see a beautiful and rare astronomical phenomenon — the supermoon lunar eclipse. Now, for this week, a dazzling meteor shower will light up the night sky.
The coming Draconid meteor shower, which is caused by remnants of Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner, will peak on Thursday and Friday, Oct. 8 and 9, according to information from EarthSky.org.
The shower's radiant point is the winged Dragon, which is situated on the far north portion of the sky dome.
It is because of this reason that the shower is clearly visible from temperate climate areas and far northern latitudes such as in the North American territories, Europe, and north Asia.
Draconids are not like most showers since they are best seen in the early evening, around 5 p.m. local time, since its most radiant point flies highest by nightfall.
This is particularly good news for those who don't like to get up very early in the morning just to get a glimpse of the meteor display.
In addition, there's no significant lunar event on those nights that could get in the way of viewing the meteor showers.
For those who are in the Southern Hemisphere, particularly those located near the equator, there's still a possibility that the Draconid showers can be spotted.
However, those who live in far south might see only a few or no showers at all.
Draconid showers, which originate from the constellation Draco the Dragon, displays "no more than a handful" of meteors every hour, EarthSky.org stated.
Sometimes, Draconids don't offer that much; still, skywatchers need to be vigilant in the event that there's an outburst.
Back in 2011, Draconids displayed around 600 meteors per hour. However, it was not predicted that an outburst will take place this year. Nevertheless, the Dragon showers are still a sight to look forward to.
