National Geographic - Andrew Fazekas, 10/5/12
This long weekend skywatchers get to see the annual peak of the Draconid meteor shower. While not the most prolific cosmic fireworks show it reliably puts on a nice display and this year with the moon out of the way – sky conditions are set to be ideal.
Like other meteor showers the Draconids get their name from the constellation they appear to radiate out from in the sky – in this case Draco, the dragon – which appears nearly overhead around local midnight throughout the northern hemisphere. The constellation is the 8th largest in the entire sky and is so large that it wraps itself around the North Star, Polaris. Famous neigbouring constellations include Ursa Minor and Ursa Major – the small and great bears of mythology.
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