Archive
10/20/11 – Ephemeris – The Orionid meteor shower
Thursday, October 20th. The sun will rise at 8:03. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 46 minutes, setting at 6:50. The moon, 1 day past last quarter, will rise at 1:40 tomorrow morning. | The Orionid meteor shower will reach its peak tomorrow morning. Like most meteor showers, this is best seen just before dawn. As the name suggests the so-called shooting stars will seem to come from the constellation Orion the hunter. They will appear to come from above the rectangular torso of the giant. These meteors actually have nothing to do with Orion, but they are the light flashes from bits of rock that were once part of Halley’s comet, as they burn up in the earth’s atmosphere. In Halley’s many passes close to the sun, much of its solid material has been liberated by the evaporating gasses, leaving a trail of litter in its orbit. The earth passes through this debris every May and now, in October.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Orionid Radiant
10/10/11 – Ephemeris – What happened with the Draconids last Saturday?
Columbus Day (observed), Monday, October 10th. The sun will rise at 7:51. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 16 minutes, setting at 7:07. The moon, 1 day before full, will set at 7:31 tomorrow morning.
Last Saturday nights International Observe the Moon Night coincided with the Draconid meteor shower. The Draconids are a periodic shower, not good most years, and when they do appear the shower, or rather meteor storm doesn’t last very long. The bright moon didn’t help, and the peak was predicted to occur in the afternoon our time. The meteors did appears, and right on time, too early for us to have seen it. The best way to detect them with a bright moon is with radio. And using that technique the estimated the peak of Draconid meteors was over 200 per hour. The responsible comet, Giacobini-Zinner, will pass our orbit next February, and may give us a chance to spot the Draconids in darker skies next year.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
10/03/11 – Ephemeris – More celestial events for this month
Monday, October 3rd. The sun will rise at 7:42. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 37 minutes, setting at 7:19. The moon, at first quarter today, will set at 12:10 tomorrow morning.
We have more celestial happenings this month than I could enumerate last Friday. Later on Saturday evening, if it’s clear the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will join with astronomy groups, planetariums and observatories with International Observe the Moon Night with telescopes positioned on the 200 block east Front Street in Traverse City, near the Martinek clock. Going on that same evening will be the return of the Draconid meteor shower. Its a favorable return of a periodic shower but interferes with by the bright moon. However some bright meteors will be seen. I’ll have more information and background Thursday. Another meteor shower later this month will be the Orionids a morning shower related to Halley’s Comet.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 