Draconid meteor shower will light up Canadian skies. How to see it best
The conditions are ripe for people to catch the Draconid meteor shower on Monday evening and into Tuesday morning. And Canadians won’t have to stay up late to catch it.
This particular meteor shower takes place in the evening and is most visible just after nightfall as opposed to happening early in the morning.
Jenna Hinds, executive director of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, told Global News the Draconid happens in October and occurs as the Earth passes through the debris left by the 21P/Giacobini-Zinner comet.
As a bonus, the moon be at just 27 per cent illumination, which will enable people to see the meteors better than they would during a brighter full moon.
“I will say the best time (for viewing) would probably be about an hour or an hour-and-a-half after sunset, depending where you are,” Hinds said. “You want it to be dark outside before you try to observe and it takes about an hour for it to get properly dark outside.”
She added that the moon will likely be about to set around this time period.
Unlike the Perseid or Geminid meteor showers, however, the Draconid typically produces only about 10 meteors per hour. For the best view, go to a location away from city lights.
According to NASA, a meteor shower typically occurs when the Earth comes into contract with debris left behind by an asteroid or comet. When a meteor enter Earth’s atmosphere and falls to the ground, the resistance it meets in the air causes it to burn up, creating what many call a “shooting star.”
According to NASA, meteor showers are named after the constellation the meteors appear to be coming from. The Draconid shower gets its name because it appears to come from the the head of the constellation Draco, the dragon.
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