Check it out this weekend! Draconid meteor shower that lights up the sky at 10 shooting stars per hour

The draconian meteor shower will peak this weekend sending up to 10 shooting stars every hour flying across the UK skies.

The annual display will be most visible on Saturday (October 8) in the northern hemisphere, but meteors will start appearing tonight (October 6) and could be visible through Monday.

To get the best possible view, experts recommend finding a spot with clear skies and away from sources of light pollution, such as major cities.

“While most other meteor showers are best viewed in the early morning hours, the Draconids are best viewed in the evening, after dark,” Royal Museums Greenwich said.

Meteor showers are caused when the earth passes through a cloud of comet debris, creating a light show for onlookers on the ground.

The draconian meteor shower originates from the debris of comet 21 P/ Giacobini-Zinner – a small comet with a diameter of 2 kilometers.

Giacobini-Zinner deposits new debris every 6.6 years as it orbits through the inner solar system, and the meteors are formed as Earth passes through this debris field.

Unfortunately, there is also a full moon around the same time this year, so visibility conditions are not ideal.

“The moon’s glare will certainly make the sky less dark, which isn’t ideal for stargazing in general, but meteors are still bright enough to be easily seen despite the moonlight,” said Jake Foster, Public Astronomy Officer at Royal Museums Greenwich, opposite MailOnline.

You don’t need any special equipment to see the UK’s draconian meteor shower — observers just need to look up unaided and enjoy the widest possible view of the sky.

In general, those in North America, Europe, and Asia are best for seeing the Draconids.

Some of the best places in the UK include the renowned stargazing spots known as the three Dark Sky Reserves – Snowdonia, Brecon Beacons and Exmoor National Parks.

However, you need to find an area with clear skies if you want a chance to see shooting stars.

The Met Office is forecasting an autumnal mix of wind and rain for much of the UK over the next few days, with some interludes of calmer weather.

Saturday is likely to be drier for most, with the possibility of just a few showers in the north.

“There will be variable amounts of cloud on Saturday, with perhaps the best chance of clearer skies heading south and east,” the Met Office’s Nicola Maxey told Mail Online.

However, she warned that the brightness of the full moon, which will be in the sky all night, could make observation difficult.

“The main issue Saturday night will likely be the full moon as the clouds clear, which could make the meteors harder to spot,” she said.

The Draconian Meteor Shower takes its name from the constellation Draco, which is its radiant point – the point in the sky from which the meteors appear to come.

Draco is a long and sinuous constellation that is easily visible in the northern sky for people in the northern hemisphere. It lies above the Big Dipper and the North Star, the North Star.

The Draconids are best seen in the Northern Hemisphere, although it’s still possible to see them in the Southern Hemisphere, especially near the equator.

This is because the beam point for the shower almost coincides with the head of the Draco constellation in the northern sky.

The rate of meteors during the peak of the Draconid shower depends on which part of the comet’s trail Earth’s orbit intersects in any given year, according to the Royal Observatory Greenwich.

“This year’s Draconids will be relatively quiet compared to the year’s more active meteor showers,” Foster told MailOnline.

“This has been the case in recent years as we have traversed a sparser region of the associated cometary orbit.”

However, he added that Comet Giacobini-Zinner orbits the Sun once every 6.6 years, replenishing its orbit with fresh meteoroids as it travels through the inner Solar System.

“That means the Draconids are much more intense about every 7 years and are capable of producing hundreds of meteors per hour,” he said.

“It’s likely to happen again in 2025, when Comet Giacobini-Zinner comes close to the Sun again. Some refer to these events as the Dragon Awakening.”

The Observatory describes the Draconids as “variable,” meaning you can never be entirely sure what kind of light show you’ll get.

“In recent years, the Draconids have produced no particular bursts of activity,” says the Royal Observatory Greenwich on its website.

“In 1933 and 1946, however, the Draconids produced some of the most active displays of the 20th century.”

The National Space Center says the Draconids typically produce between five and 10 meteors an hour, but in previous displays it’s been thousands an hour.

As the meteors of ice and dust enter our atmosphere, they begin to burn up — putting on a light show for onlookers, meaning most never reach the ground.

The beautiful streaks in the night sky may actually be caused by cosmic particles as small as a grain of sand.

If the particle is larger than a grape, it creates a fireball and is accompanied by a persistent afterglow.

The Draconian Meteor Shower, sometimes referred to as the Giacobinids, is one of two meteor showers that grace the sky each October.

The other is the Orionids, scheduled to peak in the sky between midnight and dawn on the night of October 21.