2023-10-09 11:04:24
Monday October 9, 2023, it will be possible to observe with the naked eye from 8 p.m. to midnight up to ten shooting stars per hour throughout France. They are called the Draconids.
The Draconids are less known than the Perseids of August, but just as beautiful to observe, provided you find a place away from light pollution. Generally active at the beginning of October, more precisely between the 6th and the 10th, their maximum activity is expected this year on Monday October 9, 2023.
The swarm, as Nord Littoral explains, takes its name from the constellation Dragon (Draco). The parent body of these shooting stars is a periodic comet called 21P/Giacobini-Zinner, discovered in 1900. The Draconids are in a rather calm swarm, except in 2021, when we could count up to 600 meteors per hour. A phenomenon that we will not see again before 2062.
An asteroid lit up the sky over Picardy
Up to 10 shooting stars per hour
This year it will be possible to observe up to 10 shooting stars per hour during the peak, a little less than the Orionids at the end of October, which point at 20 shooting stars per hour. Observing conditions are favorable for the Draconids in 2023, because the Moon will be in waning phase and will not obstruct the view.
Fragments of the Norman asteroid exposed
Visible between 8 p.m. and midnight
Just after sunset – between 8 p.m. and midnight – you will have to look towards the North and towards the constellation of the Dragon (west of the Little Dipper at these times) to see them. There is no need to use an instrument, the Draconids are visible to the naked eye.
A meteor is what happens when a meteoroid – a small piece of an asteroid or comet – burns up completely upon entering Earth’s atmosphere, creating a streak of light in the sky. When a meteor passes through the atmosphere and lands on the Earth’s surface, it is then called a meteorite. It is estimated that 100 tonnes of meteorites reach the surface every day, the vast majority in the form of dust.
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