Coming Soon - The Orionids Meteor Shower! (Maximum Oct 21st)

Between October 17th and 26th 2006, the Orionids Meteor Shower will be seen - well, if we have clear skies! Maximum occurs on the night of October 21st/morning of October 22nd (Saturday/Sunday)

The Orionids are associated with Halley's Comet, probably the most famous of them all, largely in part because there are many different recorded sightings spanning 2,000 years (or more, maybe).

At night at this time of year, look towards the East around local Midnight, and you will see Orion rise up on its side from the horizon. The peak is generally around his 'head', but the spread of meteors can cover virtually all of the constellation, including parts of Gemini and Taurus.

The Orionids typically rate at 20 to 25 meteors per hour. If you get yourself to a really dark site AND have very clear seeing conditions, that number for experienced observers can go up to 35 per hour. The best time to look is around 02:00hrs to 05:00hrs when Orion will be traversing the sky at its highest point.

Orionids are usually typical, some will have trains lasting a couple of seconds at best. Fireballs, or bollides, have been reported almost every year too.

So keep an eye out, and report back here of your findings and sights!

Clear Skies,

Seanie Morris.

(P.S. - feel free to distribute this text among your clubs/members)

As an addition Seanie, if folks want to use the observation form and the instruction sheet for reporting observations, please refer to this website to download the official IFAS AOP documentation:

www.astroshack.net/Meteor%20Watch.php

Thanks

Dave

clear skies here! Yay!

Good to hear!
Wish I could say the same!

Well, a miserable night across the midlands all night. However, we did have a rain-free morning but with hazy light cloud all over, so nothing worth reporting was seen unfortunately.

Well I have to say I had a good old time meteor watching last night.
Snugly wraped up on my lounger with the patio heater sizziling away behind me only the tip of my nose was suffering!

Between 4:20 - 6:45 I counted 32.
3 were very bright and fast leaving a green trail that lasted 2/3 seconds.
5 were average brightness super fast and white with no trail.
1 was again of average brightness but very slow and long.
The remainder were faint, short and fast.

The majority I witnessed radiated somewhere between Perseus and Taurus
only 5 radiated from the vicinity of Orion.

I cought 2 while looking through binos!
One when I was looking at M42 which died in my field of view, the other streaked through my line of sight bright and fast while I was looking at a plane high up after taking off from Shannon.

All in all, a good night.