The Kappa Cygnids meteor shower
Key facts
- Peak
- around 13–17 August
- Active
- early to late August
- Rate at peak (ZHR)
- about 3 (higher in some years)
- Speed
- about 23–25 km/s
- Radiant
- Cygnus and Draco (near the star Kappa Cygni, moving east during August)
- Parent body
- Unknown; asteroid 2008 ED69 is a possible relative
Dates shift slightly from year to year. This year's peak is in the events calendar.
The Kappa Cygnids are a slow, mid-August shower known for occasional spectacular fireballs. They are active at the same time as the Perseids but are completely different in character: lazy, often bright meteors from high in the northern sky.
History. The shower has been recorded since the nineteenth century. Activity seems to vary from year to year: in many years it is hard to detect, while in others, including 2014 and 2021, observers and cameras recorded noticeably more Kappa Cygnids than usual. Some researchers have suggested that the better years recur at intervals of about seven years, though the pattern is not firmly established.
The parent. No comet has been linked to the shower. In 2008 a small near-Earth asteroid, later numbered (361861) 2008 ED69, was found on an orbit similar to the stream's. The stream seems to contain more material than this one object could supply, so one idea is that both the asteroid and the meteoroids came from the break-up of a larger body thousands of years ago. The question is still open.
The radiant. The radiant is broad, and in some years appears to split into several sub-radiants. It lies near Kappa Cygni, a star in the wing of the Swan close to the border with Draco, and moves east during August. From the UK it is almost overhead in the late evening.
What to expect. Only about three meteors an hour, but with a good chance of a slow, bright fireball, sometimes with flares, as the meteoroid breaks up. At about 23 to 25 kilometres per second they move at less than half the speed of Perseids, so the two showers are easy to tell apart.
Viewing from the UK. Excellent. The radiant is high all night in August, and the darker skies of mid-August suit faint meteors. Any session watching the Perseids will also catch Kappa Cygnids.
Viewing worldwide. This is a northern shower. From the southern hemisphere the radiant is low or below the horizon.
Viewing tips
- Watch during the Perseids and look out for slow meteors from high overhead.
- Find Deneb, then look towards Draco for the Kappa Cygni area.
- Keep a camera running for slow fireballs, which this shower is known for.
- Note the speed of each meteor: slow and long suggests a Kappa Cygnid.
- Lie back with your feet pointing south and your view centred high in the sky.