The Draconid meteor shower will be lighting up the skies tonight.
October's meteor shower, which is also called Giacobinids or Giacobini-Zinner, will appear from the northern constellation Draco the Dragon. The meteor shower from the dragon-shaped constellation will be visible in the northern latitudes on Monday and Tuesday evening.
The best time to view the Draconid meteor showers will be in the evenings, instead of the early hours of dawn. According to EarthSky, this is because the meteor shower's radiant point, called the wing Dragon, will fly at its highest at nightfall.
The meteor shower will peak at its highest on the evening of October 7, 2013.
The best way to view the meteor shower would be to avoid the city lights and go somewhere dark and look up.
The Draconid meteor shower at its peak may show several meteors per hour. Although there is no prediction as to how many meteors can be seen per hour, in some years, the shower has been known to rain down thousands of meteors per hour. In 2011, the meteors had peaked with up to 600 meteors per hour!
Tonight's crescent moon will make viewing easier for stargazers. For those living in the Southern Hemisphere, it is possible to view the shower early in the evening if you live close to the equator.
The annual Draconid meteor shower is the result of our planet orbiting across the orbital path of Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner, according to EarthSky. The meteor shower we see is the debris left behind by the comet.
This particular comet was discovered by Michel Giacobini on December 20, 1900, whom the comet is also named after. The name Zinner was added to the comet's name in 1913 after another sighting.
Some of the most memorable Draconid meteor showers were in 1933 and 1946, where spectators reported seeing thousands of meteors per hour.
