Orionid meteor shower this week

[Fansome]

Orionid meteor shower this week: See if you can catch a fireball
By Deborah Netburn

October 20, 2013, 10:00 a.m.

Looking for something to do tonight? Why not see if you can spot a fireball?

The Orionid meteor shower will peak today and Monday. If you can stay up past midnight, or get up before dawn, you may be treated to one of the super-bright "fireball" meteors for which the annual shower is known.

The Orionids occur each year in mid-October when Earth passes through a stream of dust left in the wake of Comet Halley. Halley returns to our solar system every 76 years, and each time it does, it sheds bits of rocks and dust from its icy nucleus. These bits of debris burn up in the atmosphere, causing shooting stars to rip across the sky.

Orionids are known for their speed. They travel about 148,000 mph into Earth's atmosphere, according to a NASA report. Because they move so fast, they can leave glowing "trains" and are more likely than some other meteors to become fireballs -- meteors that glow at least as brightly as Jupiter or Venus in the night sky.

When the shower is at its best, observers can expect to see about 20 meteors per hour, said Anthony Cook, who heads the telescope program at Griffith Observatory. However, this year viewing conditions are not ideal. Light from the nearly-full moon you may have been admiring all weekend will drown out many of the fainter meteors.

"With city lights and the moonlight, you might be lucky to see two an hour," said Cook. "But if they are bright, it will be like free fireworks."

If you want to try to catch a fireball, NASA recommends lying on your back with your feet pointed southeast (if you are in the Northern hemisphere) anytime between midnight and dawn. Give your eyes about 30 minutes to adjust to the dark, and then relax and enjoy the show.

Even if you don't get to see a fireball or two, keep your eye out for Jupiter directly overhead at dawn, and Mars off to the east.

"Even in the suburban light bubble, the sky is really pretty at dawn right now," said Cook.

[SingleSideburn]

I think I may have seen a member of this group of meteors on the way home from shopping Saturday night. It was around 11:15 pm Central Standard Time.

The meteor was unusually bright and long lasting (guessing about 1 sec.) and sputtered a bit before disappearing.

The direction was nearly exactly from west to east, angled slightly towards the south.

It's also unusual in that I saw this from my car while I was driving. Also, all this is highly visible in spite of bright moonlight on that night, as well as being in the middle of a light-polluted city of around 56,000 inhabitants.

[cmradio]

I froze my balls for a half hour at 4AM yesterday and saw nothing but irridium flares and the odd Russian derelict launch vehicle

Peace!

[Pigmeat]

Orionid meteor shower? So that's why your relatives have been washing up on west coast beaches, Al.

[ChrisSmolinski]

I saw one this morning just before sunrise. Thanks for the tip, Al.

[SingleSideburn]

Were those people washing up on the beach taking a bath,

or a shower?