Draconid Meteor Shower Dazzles the Sky Saturday [Photo]

The Draconid meteor shower, last seen in 2005, emerged Saturday with shooting stars seen dazzling in the night sky.

NASA experts estimated there would be 500 to 1,000 meteors per hour, though the sun and moon in the United States were expected to block most of the spectacular show there.

The best parts of the world to watch the Draconid meteor shower Saturday night were the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe. A picture captured near Stockholm, Sweden, pictured here, shows a purple night sky and shooting stars at the Farnebofjardens national park.

Astronomer Paul Weigart of the University of Western Ontario said this year the Draconids would peak at 1,000 per hour, and had encouraged people to look up on Saturday night.

Meteor showers are as difficult to predict as rain showers, he said. The Draconids have surprised us before, and they may do so again.

The variability in the Draconids meteor shower occurs because of the uncertainty of the Earth's movements through the filaments of 21P/Giacobini-Zinner. The periodic comet passes through the inner solar system every 6.6 years, leaving behind dust that forms into filaments, which the Earth traverses in October.