Eyes on the sky watch the unpredictable Draconid meteor shower

Wed, 04 Sep 2013 13:25:48 -0400

Meteor showers — nature’s superlative fireworks displays — occur when Earth’s orbit intersects a trail of debris left behind by a comet. Meteoroids from the comet stream collide with Earth’s atmosphere and ignite, punctuating the night sky with a cascade of shooting stars. Scientists can accurately forecast the timing of meteor showers using the principles of celestial mechanics; however, the intensity of the Draconid shower, which occurs every October, has proved notoriously hard to predict. A new study employing a network of sky-watching cameras reveals that in 2011, the shower peaked at 400 meteors per hour and delivered nearly one ton of meteoritic material to Earth in less than 48 hours.

Meteor Shower on EARTH Magazine

Eyes on the sky watch the unpredictable Draconid meteor shower