Shooting Stars of October

Seen any shooting stars lately? If you haven't, then October is your next opportunity to observe both a minor and a major meteor shower. With any luck the weather will cooperate and you'll see many meteors blaze across the sky as the Earth sweeps through these streams of particles left behind by comets.

The minor shower, the Draconids, peaks on the night of October 8-9. Unfortunately the Full Harvest Moon is on the 6th, so moonlight will interfere somewhat with seeing this shower to best advantage. Only the brightest of the meteors will be observable. The Draconids are fairly slow moving meteors, hitting our atmosphere at only 12.5 miles per second. Observing hint: face north (look for Ursa Major, the Big Dipper). Expect a maximum of 10 meteors per hour during the peak.

Be sure to look up at the waning gibbous Moon on the night of October 9-10. Our desolate neighbor will slowly glide in front of the Pleiades star cluster, covering and then uncovering many of the stars of this little asterism over the course of several hours. The stars will disappear along the bright limb (edge) of the Moon and will reappear some time later along the dark limb. It's a pretty sight in binoculars or with a telescope at low magnification. For us in the northeast the event begins just around midnight.

For instance, the brightest and westernmost star of the cluster, Electra, will be covered by the Moon's bright edge at around 12:04 am, EDT on the 10th for us here in southern New England. Electra will reappear at the Moon's dark edge around 1:10 am, EDT. Observing hint: if the weather permits, please note the position of both the Moon and the cluster a day before and a day after the event.

Fortunately our major meteor shower during mid-month will occur at New Moon. The Orionids are at their best on the night of October 20-21 with about 15-20 yellow and green meteors per hour during peak. These remnants of Halley's Comet intercept the Earth's orbit nearly head-on at 41.6 miles per second, so they are bright and are also noted for producing fireballs that create persistent dust trains high in the atmosphere. You may get lucky and see a few of the brighter meteors as they disintegrate.

Observing hint: as the night progresses, the constellation Orion, and the point in the sky from which the meteors will appear to radiate, will rise higher and higher in the eastern sky, allowing more meteors to be observed. Maximize your chances of seeing them by observing from a dark sky location. The optimum time to see the greatest number of meteors will be during the pre-dawn hours on the morning of the 21st.

And lastly, don't forget to turn your clocks back one hour on Sunday, October 29 at 2:00 am. We then return to Eastern Standard Time.

Remember, Seagrave Observatory is open to the public every clear Saturday night (except September 30). Check our web site at http://www.theskyscrapers.org for further information, and always keep your eyes to the skies.