3 meteor showers will peak this month; 2 happening this week

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ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - October will feature the peak of three meteor showers lighting up the sky across the globe and two of those will happen on back-to-back nights this week. 

The Draconid and Southern Taurid meteor showers are expected to light up the night sky on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, respectively. Experts says stargazers everywhere will be able to see shooting stars right from their backyards – as long as the sky is clear and the moon isn't too bright. 

According to AccuWeather, the St. Louis area will have mostly clear skys on both nights. 

Two meteor showers will peak on consecutive nights next week, including one known for bringing incredibly bright meteors known as fireballs. https://t.co/aufLghw5oU pic.twitter.com/e8SmGTKzFj

— AccuWeather (@accuweather) October 4, 2019

The International Meteor Organization states Tuesday night's Draconid shower will likely have around 10 meteors per hour, but sometimes those showers can be unpredictable and suddenly have hundreds of meteors. That's what happened over Europe in 2018 when observers counted more than 140 meteors per hour.

Wednesday's Southern Taurid shower is usually more minor with fewer than 10 meteors per hour.

And if you don't get a chance to see the showers this week, you'll have another shot on Oct. 21-22 for the Orionid meteor shower which usually brings around 20 meteors per hour.

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