It’s all ready for the sight of a new one beautiful swarm of shooting stars: in the night between 8 and 9 October they will shine Draconidsthe meteors most famous of this autumn mede. We don’t miss out and we prepare many wishes!
As the UAI explains, one of the most interesting events will arrive on the night between 8 and 9 October with the Draconidswith the peak expected in particular on October 9th around 3 am Italian time. The radiant, or the point from which shooting stars appear to depart, is located in the constellation of the Dragon from which they take their name (on the map the sky of October 9, 2026 at approximately 3.00 am).
©Stellarium
The Draconids are very slow meteors – explain the UAI experts – with a speed of just 20 km/s, a characteristic that allows them to be distinguished quite easily from sporadic meteors. In a normal year the ZHR is modest, around 5, but this swarm is famous for having produced spectacular bursts of activity in the past
And there’s more, because the moon in the New phase on October 10th, therefore almost absent at the peak expected for meteors. For Italian observers the radiant will also be above the horizon, therefore visible, all night long.
Don’t miss it!
