Starfall Draconids in October 2026: what will see Volgograd
The Draconid meteor shower will be active from October 6-10, 2026. Maximum will have on the night from 8 to 9, about 4 hours Moscow time
It is expected about 5 meteors per hour, and the moon will shine only by 3% – it will not be able to interfere with observations.
Draconids are best seen from the Northern Hemisphere. The radiant is located in the constellation of Dragon, near the stars Eltanin and Rastaban. You do not need to look directly at the radiant - meteors near it leave the shortest traces. Just look up.
The parent body of the stream is Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner with a period of six and a half years. It was discovered by Michel Giacobini on 20 December 1900 at the Observatory of Nice in France and rediscovered by Ernst Zinner on 23 October 1913.
During the perihelion years of 1933 and 1946, the meteor count was thousands per hour. In 1985, the comet became the first to be visited by the International Comet Explorer.
