Draconid Meteor Outburst.

Presented by Science at NASA.

Have you ever felt like the sky is falling?

On October 8th you might be right.

Earth is going to plow through a stream of dust from Comet

21P/Giacobini-Zinner, and the result could be a storm of

Draconid meteors.

"We're predicting as many as 750 meteors per hour visible

mainly over the Middle East, north Africa, and parts of

Europe," says Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office.

Every six and a half years, more or less, Comet

Giacobini-Zinner swings through the inner solar system.

With each visit, it lays down a narrow filament of dust,

over time forming a network of filaments that Earth

encounters every year in early October.

"Most years, we pass through gaps between filaments, maybe

just grazing one or two as we go by," says Cooke.

"Occasionally, though, we hit one nearly head on, and the

fireworks begin."

2011 could be such a year.

Forecasters at NASA and elsewhere agree that Earth is

heading for three or more filaments on October 8th.

Multiple encounters should produce a series of variable

outbursts beginning around 1600 Universal Time with the

strongest activity between 1900 and 2100 Universal Time.

Estimates of the meteor rate range from dozens to hundreds

of meteors per hour.

One respected forecaster, Paul Wiegert of the University of

Western Ontario, believes the meteor rate could go as high

as 1000 per hour, the definition of a meteor storm.

It wouldn't be the first time.

Close encounters with dusty filaments produced storms of

more than 10,000 Draconids per hour in 1933 and 1946, with

lesser outbursts in 1985, 1998, and 2005.

Meteors from Comet Giacobini-Zinner stream out of the

northern constellation Draco, hence their name.

Draconids are among the slowest of all meteors, hitting the

atmosphere at a relatively leisurely 20 kilometers per second.

The slow pace of Draconid meteors minimizes their danger to

satellites and spacecraft and makes them visually distinctive.

"A Draconid gliding leisurely across the sky is a beautiful

sight," says Cooke.

Unfortunately, many of this year's Draconids will go unseen.

Glare from the almost-full Moon will reduce the number of

meteors visible over Europe, Africa and the Middle East by

2- to 10-fold.

The situation is even worse in North America where the

shower occurs in broad daylight, from noon to 5:00 pm

Eastern Daylight Time, completely obliterating the display.

That isn't stopping a group of high-school students from

Bishop, California.

They plan to observe the shower from the stratosphere where

the sky is jet black even at noontime.

Led by Science@NASA's Tony Phillips, the 12 students have

been launching helium balloons to the edge of space since

May of 2011.

With more than 95% of Earth's atmosphere below the balloon,

the sky above looks almost as black as it would from a

spacecraft, perfect for astronomy.

"The students are going to fly one of our low-light meteor

cameras in the payload of their balloon," says Cooke.

"I hope they catch some Draconid fireballs for us to analyze.

They could be the only ones we get." Stay tuned for results

after October 8th.

For more news about things flashing in the night sky, visit

science.nasa.gov.