October 7
Draconid Peak
Sun Position
The Sun is in Libra near -6.5° declination. In temperate Northern Hemisphere locations, the evening sky is darkening noticeably earlier than a month ago; southern temperate evenings are stretching toward long summer twilights.
Sky Highlight
The Draconid meteor shower peaks on or near October 7-8 each year. Unlike most showers, the Draconids are best viewed in the evening hours when the radiant in Draco is highest. Rates are typically modest (around 10 meteors per hour under good conditions) but occasional outbursts have surprised observers. The shower produces slow, often colorful meteors.
Deep Sky Object
NGC 457, an open cluster about 7,900 light-years away. NGC 457 in Cassiopeia, sometimes called the Owl Cluster or ET Cluster, is a rich young open cluster whose brightest stars form a pattern that many observers find immediately recognizable. It is one of those clusters that rewards a few minutes of quiet attention. Excellent for Northern Hemisphere autumn observers; low or below horizon for far southern latitudes.
Featured Star
Ruchbah (δ Cas) is a white giant (A5III) about 99 light-years away and an eclipsing binary, its brightness dips very slightly every couple of years as a cooler companion passes in front of it, a variation too subtle for casual observation but real. It holds the knee position in the seated queen's outline. Ruchbah, the queen's knee, one of the five stars in Cassiopeia's W.
Around This Date
- October 7, 1959Luna 3 photographed the Moon's far side for the first time, returning images that showed a surface dominated by highlands rather than the dark lowland basins visible from Earth.
- October 9, 1604Johannes Kepler first observed the supernova in Ophiuchus now known as Kepler's Star, the last naked-eye supernova observed in the Milky Way.
The Draconids ask you to look up in the early evening, which is when most people have not yet thought to go outside.