{"id":197217,"date":"2025-10-08T09:47:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T09:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/197217\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T09:47:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T09:47:09","slug":"the-draconid-meteor-shower-peaks-on-oct-8-heres-what-to-expect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/197217\/","title":{"rendered":"The Draconid meteor shower peaks on Oct. 8\u2014 Here&#8217;s what to expect"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"0baf031d-891b-4876-b8ec-fb75b4039a9a\">The Draconid meteor shower peaks tonight, heralding a spectacular natural light show as a flurry of meteors streak through the moonlit October skies.<\/p>\n<p><a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/38390-draconid-meteor-shower-guide.html\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/38390-draconid-meteor-shower-guide.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Draconid meteors<\/a> can be seen each year as <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/54-earth-history-composition-and-atmosphere.html\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/54-earth-history-composition-and-atmosphere.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Earth<\/a> barrels through the trail of debris left behind by <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/comets.html\" data-before-rewrite-redirect=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/53-comets-formation-discovery-and-exploration.html\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/comets.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">comet<\/a> 21P\/Giacobini-Zinner. The shower is active during a relatively brief window from Oct. 6 to Oct. 10 and comes to a peak as our planet passes through the densest section of the debris trail at 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT) on Oct. 8.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"elk-seasonal\" href=\"\" data-url=\"\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"0baf031d-891b-4876-b8ec-fb75b4039a9a-2\">Around this time, up to <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/solar-system\/whats-up-october-2025-skywatching-tips-from-nasa\/\" data-url=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/solar-system\/whats-up-october-2025-skywatching-tips-from-nasa\/\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">10 shooting stars<\/a> could be visible under ideal circumstances each hour, as ancient fragments of comet 21P\/Giacobini-Zinner collide with <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/17683-earth-atmosphere.html\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/17683-earth-atmosphere.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Earth&#8217;s atmosphere<\/a>, burning up in a fiery display that we liken to &#8220;shooting stars&#8221;. However, the light of a 93%-lit waning gibbous moon two days past its <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/16830-full-moon-calendar.html\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/16830-full-moon-calendar.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">full moon<\/a> phase will saturate the sky with reflected sunlight, making it harder to see fainter members of the annual shower.<\/p>\n<p>You may like<\/p>\n<p>Camera Pick: Nikon Z8<\/p>\n<p class=\"vanilla-image-block\" style=\"padding-top:56.25%;\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/QCof79eZwAELuNGdKt4P26.jpg\" alt=\"Nikon Z8 and NIKKOR Z 24-120mm f4 S on a white background\"   loading=\"lazy\" data-new-v2-image=\"true\" data-original-mos=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/QCof79eZwAELuNGdKt4P26.jpg\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/QCof79eZwAELuNGdKt4P26.jpg\" class=\"pinterest-pin-exclude\"\/>\n<\/p>\n<p>(Image credit: Nikon)<\/p>\n<p class=\"fancy-box__body-text\">If you&#8217;re looking for a great camera to photograph meteors, we recommend the <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/nikon-z8-review\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/nikon-z8-review\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sony A7R IV<\/a>, which we&#8217;ve named the best mirrorless camera in our guide to the <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/best-cameras-for-astrophotography\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/best-cameras-for-astrophotography\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">best cameras for astrophotography<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"aa450bc8-02bb-4593-91e5-bf15b9f90fc3\">Draconid meteors appear to streak away from a point of origin \u2014 or radiant \u2014 located close to the head of the great dragon represented by the constellation Draco, which can be found glittering above the <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/27758-big-dipper.html\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/27758-big-dipper.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Big Dipper<\/a> asterism in the northwestern sky after sunset in mid-October.<\/p>\n<p>The best time to hunt for Draconoids is at sunset on Oct. 8, when the shower&#8217;s radiant will be at its highest in the night sky. You can maximize your chances of catching <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/meteor-showers-shooting-stars.html\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/meteor-showers-shooting-stars.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">meteors<\/a> with the longest tails by staring into a patch of sky some 40 degrees above the radiant. Remember: the width of your clenched fist accounts for roughly 10 degrees in the sky when held at arm&#8217;s length!<\/p>\n<p>Hoping to snap a shot of a fast moving Draconid? Then be sure to read our guide detailing the camera settings and best practices to help you <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/how-to-photograph-meteor-showers\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/how-to-photograph-meteor-showers\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">photograph shooting stars<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Editor&#8217;s Note: If you capture an image of a meteor or fireball and want to share it with Space.com&#8217;s readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com. <\/p>\n<p class=\"newsletter-form__strapline\">Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Draconid meteor shower peaks tonight, heralding a spectacular natural light show as a flurry of meteors streak&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197218,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[49,48,66,306],"class_list":["post-197217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}