The Stars Were Falling Like Rain
It was October 9, 1946.
“I noticed a streak of fire sailing slowly across my bedroom window and reported to my wife the strange happening then noticed what looked like a star, then another, and possibly twenty more, dancing in my window.,” recalled Pastor Ralph Harmon of Griquet on Newfoundland’s great northern peninsula.
What Pastor Harmon Saw
What Harmon witnessed was a phenomenon being experienced across North America. The Earth was passing through the wake of the Giacobini-Zinner comet and the debris was falling into the planet’s atmosphere and burning up in a phenomenon known as the Draconid meteor shower.
“The stars were just falling like rain”
An observer from Chicago said that the brightest meteors outshone Venus, and showed colors of red, orange, and green that even left wisps of cloud in their wake. If it looked that amazing in the ambient glow of Chicago, imagine how it must’ve looked in Griquet of 1946, a place with virtually no light pollution.
Pastor Harmon reflected, “Such a sight I'll never forget, the stars were just falling like rain. I dressed, called the teacher who is boarding with us, and together we went and called a neighbour… we watched the sight for more than two hours.”
“It literally rained stars by the thousands,” he recalled.
The 1946 Draconid meteor shower are considered among the great meteor storms of all time — with meteor rates possibly as high as 10,000 per hour.
Amid the beauty, there were moments of fear.
“Dozens of balls of fire were moving back and forth in the north,” Harnum reported. “A large flaming object… went south at a terrific speed that would cause you to wonder what's going to happen next.“
It must have been quite a scene to behold.
The 2024 Draconids
The earth is passing through the debris of the Giacobini-Zinner comet right now but no one is expecting a meteor storm of the magnitude seen in 1946.
That said, if you spend some time gazing star-ward you’ll likely be treated to a handful of shooting stars.
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Strange, Bay Roberts Guardian, December 07, 1946
Earth Narrowly Escapes Being Hit By Meteors, Observer's Weekly, October 22, 1946
Everything You Need to Know about the Draconids, Earthsky.org
