Draconid Meteor Shower Peaks Over CA, Orionids Cue Up

CALIFORNIA — The Draconids are the one meteor shower of the year California residents don’t have to stay up past midnight or get up early to see, and it’s about to peak.

The short-lived shower starts Sunday and runs through Thursday, Oct. 10, with peak activity occurring Tuesday morning. Unlike other shooting star shows, the Draconids peak in the early evening.

During the peak, most of the Golden State’s inland skies are expected to be clear, while there could be coastal clouds in the early Tuesday morning hours. The waxing crescent moon will be about 25 percent illuminated but will set before 9 p.m. local time.

According to the National Weather Service, earlier in the week is better if you plan to view the meteor shower. The Bay Area skies will be mostly clear until Thursday when partly cloudy conditions arrive. As for Southern California, inland skies will be mostly clear throughout the coming week. Patchy fog will fill the night skies by the coast, and clouds will increase starting Thursday morning.

Sometimes called the Giacobinid meteor shower in honor of the astronomer who discovered the comet that produces it, the shooting star show passes almost without notice most years with only a smattering of meteors — maybe five an hour.

In some years, Draco the Dragon — the shower's radiant point — awakens and breathes fire in an outburst or meteor storm. Meteor experts don’t expect a Draconid outburst this year, but there’s always a chance as Earth passes through the bits of ice and rock left behind by Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner as it hurtles through the solar system.

A meteor storm in Europe in 1933 rained down 500 shooting stars a minute. Less spectacular meteor storms were reported in 1946 in the United States, with reports of 50 to 100 Draconid meteors an hour.

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Orionid and Taurid meteors are also flying right now. According to NASA, the Orionid meteor shower, which runs through Nov. 22 and usually produces only about 23 meteors an hour at its Oct. 20-21 peak, is considered one of the year's most beautiful shooting star shows.

The long-running Taurids continue through Dec 2. The shower has two streams, the Southern and Northern Taurids, and is not as showy as some meteor showers. Peaks are Nov. 4-5 and Nov. 11-12.

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If you still need a reason to poke your head in the sky, peek at the Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas.

The so-called “comet of the century” is expected to appear in the evening sky as it makes its closest approach to Earth between Oct. 11-12.

The comet should be visible through the end of October.