Draconid, Orionid Meteor Showers Peak: How To See In Huntersville

HUNTERSVILLE, NC — Shooting stars are zipping across the skies most of the month, with the first of two October meteor showers — the Draconids — peaking Tuesday evening. Whether you’ll be able to see them in Huntersville depends on the weather, of course.

We’re looking at mostly cloudy skies with a 20 percent chance of rain and a low around 58 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

The Orionid meteor shower is also active right now, but won’t peak until Oct. 22-23.

The Draconids run Sunday through Thursday. Though the Draconid meteor shower peaks Tuesday, meteors may also be visible on Monday and Wednesday night, according to Earthsky.org.

There’s good, bad and hopeful news associated with the Draconids, produced by dust grains left behind by comet 21P Giacobini-Zinner, first discovered in 1900. The Draconids radiate from the far north constellation Draco, which resembles a dragon or serpent, giving it the name of Draco the Dragon.

The good news: Though not as prolific as some meteor shower with only about 10 shooting stars an hour in typical years, the Draconids offer skywatchers the luxury of watching before bedtime, rather than in the pre-dawn hours. Nightfall and early evening are the best times to look for meteors

The bad news: a bright moon could wash them out.

The hopeful news: 2019 is an outburst year for the Draconids, and they could produce 40 to 50 meteors an hour. The outbursts occur when the Earth passes inside Comet Giacobini-Zinner’s orbit shortly after the comet has gone by.

Related: 2019 Guide To Meteor Showers, Lunar Eclipse, Supermoons In NC

In some outburst years, the shower produces thousands of meteors an hour. Skywatchers in Europe saw an incredible 500 Draconids a minute in 1933, and those in the western U.S. saw thousands per hour when the shower peaked in 1946, according to Space.com. The Draconids had an outburst in 2018, when the parent comet made its closest approach to Earth in 72 years.

The Draconids are an “all or nothing shower,” NASA meteor expert Bill Cooke told Space.com. “They are rich in faint meteors if they appear.”

Unfortunately, the moon will be nearly full. (The full moon on Oct. 13 was dubbed the full hunter’s moon by early Native American tribes.) Cooke said the moon is likely to wash out the Draconids.

Still, it’s worth watching. Find a dark sky — especially important this year with the moon’s interference.

Draco is the eighth-largest constellation, but it’s not particularly prominent. It’s visible in the far north sky, and never sets below the horizon. Though you may want to locate Draco the Dragon, the meteors can be seen from anywhere in the sky.

Orionid Meteor Shower Going On Now, Too

The Orionid meteor shower, which is going on right now, continues through Nov. 7, peaking overnight Oct. 22-23. The Orionids are among the fastest of meteor showers because the Earth collides almost head-on with a stream of dust grains left by the comet Halley.

You’ll want to get up early (or go to bed late) for this one. At the peak, a bright moon will disrupt viewing until shortly before dawn.

“The saving grace for the Orionids, if you go out the last hour or two before dawn, the moon might have set in time for you to catch a few," Cooke, the NASA meteor expert, told Space.com.

Typically, the Orionids produce about 20 meteors an hour, but in exceptional years, like 2006 and 2009, they’ve rivaled August’s famous Perseid meteor shower. Cooke expects the shower to produce about 30 or 40 meteors an hour this year.

The meteors radiate from the constellation Orion, but can be seen from anywhere in the sky.