Draconid meteor shower starts tonight – here is where and when to see it

An incredible meteor shower is set to blast over the UK tonight with Brits clambering to catch a glimpse of the spectacle.

The annual Draconid meteor shower will cause shooting stars to fly through the night sky. The Earth is set to clatter through the debris of comet 21P/ Giacobini-Zinner.

Folk hoping to catch a glimpse of the incredible spectacle will have to look skywards from Friday night (October 6) until Tuesday (October 10) as our planet moves through the cloud of natural space litter. The shower is expected to peak between Sunday (October 8) and Monday (October 9), according to the Royal Observatory Greenwich.

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That means people hoping to catch a glimpse of the shower might get lucky as soon as tonight. However, the number of shooting stars people might be able to see is, among other things, dependent on which part of the comet’s trail Earth ends up moving through.

Although, if things go well, we could be able to spot as many as 10 shooting stars per hour at the peak of the Draconids. Light streaking across the sky can be caused by particles as small as a grain of sand.

They sometimes go by the name the Giacobinids because they were first spotted by astronomer Michael Giacobini. Although there is the potential for some real fireworks, it won’t be as big as the recent Perseid meteor shower which brought up to 100 every hour.

The best time to catch the Draconids is expected to be shortly after nightfall – some showers are best spotted in the early hours. If we get lucky, they might be visible in the northern hemisphere with the naked eye, so don’t worry too much if you forget your binoculars – but do keep your fingers crossed for clear skies.

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