MOSCOW, October 7. /TASS/. Meteors from the Draconid meteor shower this October will have a reddish tint during the peak of its activity, making them easy to spot in the night sky, Evgeny Burmistrov, an astronomy expert from the Perm National Research Polytechnic University, told TASS.
The meteor shower will reach its maximum intensity on the night of October 9. Astronomers expect up to 15 "falling stars" per hour. This is one of the few meteor showers where the meteors catch up to Earth rather than flying toward it. Their atmospheric entry speed is relatively low because of that and is about 20 kilometers per second.
"The Draconids are characterized by a distinctive reddish tint, and such slow speed by cosmic standards explains their smooth and leisurely movement across the sky – these two features allow observers to easily distinguish genuine Draconids from random 'falling stars,' " he said.
The shower gets its name from the constellation Draco, which hosts its radiant – the point in the sky from which the meteors appear to originate.