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Draconid meteor shower to light up sky on Tuesday night

The streaks, being yellow and reddish in color, trail the Earth, so they enter the atmosphere at a low speed of around 20 km per second

MOSCOW, October 7. /TASS/. The Draconid meteor shower will peak on Tuesday evening, illuminating the night sky with as many as 15 shooting stars per hour, the Moscow Planetarium told TASS.

The Draconids, which break off from the comet 21 P/Giacobini-Zinner, are expected to peak at around 4:00 p.m. Moscow time (1 p.m. GMT - TASS) on October 8.

"[During the shower’s peak on Tuesday night,] between five and 15 meteors per hour are expected to streak through the sky, while the Draconids can produce outbursts of 100 to 400 meteors per hour," the planetarium specified.

The Draconid meteor shower is a relatively weak meteor shower that occurs in October. The streaks, being yellow and reddish in color, trail the Earth, so they enter the atmosphere at a low speed of around 20 km per second.

According to the planetarium, the Draconids that seem to originate from a point in the Draco constellation will be best visible in the small hours of October 9 in the skies above the northwestern horizon. To see the phenomenon, observers are recommended to find a place away from the lights of the city, where stars are visible.