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By Derek Craddock

LIGHT UP THE NIGHT

Look up, way up as meteor shower lights up Northern Saskatchewan

Oct 8, 2021 | 8:00 AM

If you happen to be out this weekend, make sure you look to the skies.

The Draconid meteor shower has made its way to the northern hemisphere but unfortunately, you won’t have a lot of time to see it.

The Draconid Meteor Showers are an annual event that usually runs for a few days in October.

“It’s a little unusual,” said Tim Yaworski with the Royal Astronomy Society of Canada – Saskatoon chapter. “Most meteor showers are over the course of a week, two weeks or in some cases a month, this particular one has a really short window.”

Yaworski said this meteor shower peaks on Friday night but could still be visible Saturday. He added stargazers will be able to see the shower in many parts of Northern Saskatchewan, particularly after sunset.

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The shower is named after the constellation Draco. The meteors come from debris that trails the Giacobini-Zinner comet, which was first discovered in 1900.

The Draconid shower will likely produce about 10 meteors per hour, but Yaworski said that in previous years in Europe, the phenomenon sometimes produced hundreds of shooting stars.

As for the best location to view the event, look to the north.

“The radiant point where it appears the meteors are coming from when you look at them is around the Big Dipper, Small Dipper area.”

He added for residents of Northern Saskatchewan that the best place to be for you is outside the city lights, to make sure you see enough of the stars.

“Ideally for people in P.A. or north, get somewhere where you’ve got the city behind you. Get a little bit out of town to some darkness and hopefully, an open northern sky.”

If you miss the Draconid meteor shower, don’t worry as plenty of meteor showers are on the calendar for the rest of the year. The Orionid meteor shower is scheduled to pass over around Oct. 20. The final meteor shower of the year, the Ursid, is expected to appear just before Christmas.

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Derek.craddock@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @PA_Craddock