New Delhi  : Every year in early October earth passes through the debris trail left behind by Comet Giacobini-Zinner (a periodic comet in the Solar System). The comet orbits the sun with a period of 6.6 years. During each pass through the inner solar system, it sheds a trail of dust along its path, as earth passes through this debris, and lots of shooting. The constellation Draco the Dragon will be spitting out meteors, also known as shooting stars.  For the last few nights, Draco the Dragon have been spitting out shooting stars, also known as meteors. Draconid shower is predicted to produce the greatest number of meteors today. It occurs annually thanks to the ribbon of space dust left behind by Giacobini-Zinner, a comet that travels around the sun every 6½ years.

In 1933 and 1946, shower produced awesome meteor displays with thousands of meteors per hour seen in those years. Even in October 2011 – people around the globe saw an elevated number of Draconid meteors, even though the moon was bright that night. European observers saw over 600 meteors per hour in 2011.  Meteors are debris from comets, so when a parent comet is nearby, a good meteor shower is possible. In 2013 this year – approximately two years after the comet’s 2011 perihelion (closest point to the sun) – there might be another meteor storm around the time of this shower’s peak, or there might not be.

SPACE President Mr. C B Devgun said that “The Draconids — expected to peak today at 17:30 UT, which translates to 23:00 IST, and to get the best view, find an area away from city lights so the eyes can adjust to the darkness for at least 20 minutes. .This year fortunately, the thin waxing crescent moon won’t interfere with Draconid meteor display, so for a full-sky view, lie down under a dark, open sky on a blanket or reclining chair and enjoy the Draconid meteor display.”

Michel Giacobini discovered the comets on December 20, 1900. Another sighting in 1913 added Zinner to the name of the comet, 21P Giacobini-Zinner. It is a periodic comet, which returns every 6 years and 4 months. Tracking this comet, and noting this October meteor shower, helped astronomers figure out how to predict meteor showers in 1915. The great Draconid/Giacobinid meteor storms occurred in 1933 and 1946. The comet returned in 1998 as well, and the Draconids picked up that year, but only to a rate of about 100 per hour. Then last year, 2011, observers in Europe saw over 600 Draconid meteors per hour.

In most years, the Draconids come and go with a barely noticeable peak of 10 or so meteors per hour. Occasionally, however, Earth passes through a dense clump of debris from parent comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner and a meteor storm erupts. Last year, an outburst of activity was spotted by radar — 1,000 meteors per hour. For 2013, observers are hoping the stars align — a thick cloud of dust and plenty of activity visible by the human eye. Oftentimes, this hard-to-predict shower doesn’t offer much more than a handful of languid meteors per hour. But watch out when the Dragon awakes!

 Source : Lokesh Shastri