October Meteor Showers

Are you as frustrated with the August Perseid meteor shower as I am? I can’t remember the last time the peak night of this very productive shower of shooting stars was not “mooned” or clouded out. Though some of the local meteorologists predicted the clouds might part just after midnight on the night of August 12-13, that scenario did not happen. Jim Hendrickson, Skyscrapers’ newsletter editor and web master, and I gave up around 3:30 am and headed home from Frosty Drew Observatory in Charlestown. Low clouds persisted until well after sunrise.

Some folks perhaps attributed the bad luck to Friday the 13th superstition. For me and my associates, it was just typical southern New England weather once again interfering with an astronomical event.

The following night I did spend a couple of hours observing what remained of the Perseid meteor shower from my home in Pascoag. While I did see a dozen or so bright meteors on either side of the midnight hour, the activity was unfortunately (and predictably) far less than peak level. At least I knew that in two months the Earth would plunge through more comet debris and produce two upcoming meteor shower displays.

Well, that may have been wishful thinking. October does host one minor and one major meteor display. The minor Draconid shower is indeed quite minor these days, with perhaps 10 or less meteors per hour at peak on October 8-9. The Full Hunter’s Moon on the 22nd will wash out all but the brightest members of the major Orionid meteor shower in the predawn hours of the 21st.

However, despite the minor activity for one and moonlight for the other, if clear skies do prevail, at least some of the brighter shooting stars will be visible if you are patient. Though much better prospects are forecast for the Geminids in December, who knows what the weather will bring then. So let’s make the best of what Mother Nature offers for October. At least the temperature will still be moderate.

First up is the Draconids on October 8-9. Look towards the northern sky to spot these meteors.

If you can see the Big Dipper (part of Ursa Major the big bear) then you’ll see the potential Draconid meteors. They hit our atmosphere at about 12.5 miles per second – slow in comparison to many other meteors. The Moon will be a day past new, so it will not brighten the sky.

Unfortunately as mentioned earlier, the Full Hunter’s Moon, prominent in the sky all night, will overshadow all but the brightest meteors of the Orionid shower on the morning of the 21st. While the normal peak rate calls for 30 yellow and green meteors per hour, bright moonlight will certainly cut that number down to no more than ten meteors per hour at best. These remnants of Halley’s Comet intercept the Earth’s orbit nearly head-on at 41.6 miles per second, so they are very fast as they blaze across the sky from a point in the sky just above Orion’s head. The accompanying basic constellation graphic will help you to identify Orion.

At 3:30 am Orion will be due south of your location and about halfway up above the horizon. The Moon will be in the southwest. Between that time and dawn would be a good window to conduct your observing session. As dawn’s early light approaches, the Moon may be blocked by trees or houses. It will set beneath the western horizon around 5:41 am, and the brighter stars of Orion will still be visible in twilight until around 6:41 am in the southwestern sky. That timeframe could provide the best observing opportunity of the entire morning if you are short on time.

Keep in mind that any light pollution will also reduce the number of meteors that one can observe. Don’t forget that Jupiter is now well placed for observing early in the evening, and the telescopes at Seagrave Memorial Observatory on Peeptoad Road in North Scituate are open to the public every clear Saturday night for excellent views. (Seagrave Observatory will be closed on October 2.) Please check the web site for the opening times schedule (http:/www.theskyscrapers.org).

In addition, Ladd Observatory (http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Physics/Ladd/) on the corner of Hope Street and Doyle Avenue in Providence is scheduled to re-open after months of renovations for public viewing on October 5 and every clear Tuesday night thereafter. Check the Ladd web site before visiting in case the re-open date changes. Jupiter will be the primary focus of the 12-inch Brashear refractor. Come and enjoy the beauty of astronomy with the Ladd observatory staff and all our friends.

And finally, as the late Jack Horkheimer (1938-2010) used to say when closing his long running PBS astronomy show “Star Hustler” (later changed to “Star Gazer”), “Keep looking up!”