2008 Orionid meteors obscured by moonlight
26 comments Print Me Email to FriendTonight is Sunday, Oct 19 2008
The object at left isn’t a meteor. It’s the most famous of all comets, Comet Halley. This comet last visited Earth in 1986, but it left debris in its wake that strikes Earth’s atmosphere most fully around October 20-22, while Earth intersects the comet’s orbit, as it does every year at this time.
This cometary debris – bits of ice – is what creates a meteor shower.
The Orionid meteor shower is expected to rain down the greatest number of meteors before dawn on Tuesday October 21, 2008. As usual, the best time to watch this shower will be between the hours of midnight and dawn. You can try watching Monday morning, but Tuesday and Wednesday mornings might offer more meteors.
This isn’t the year’s richest meteor shower, or even the second-richest, but this year the obscuring moon is out from midnight to dawn, when the most meteors will be flying. So if you’re hankering to see some meteors, this is not an opportune year for the Orionids. Just be aware that this shower is expected to produce only about 20 meteors per hour, or one every few minutes.
Meteors in annual showers are named for the point in our sky from which they appear to radiate. The radiant point for the Orionids is in the direction of the constellation Orion the Hunter. Hence the name Orionids.
For me … even one meteor can be a thrill. But you might want to observe for an hour or more, and in that case the trick is to find a place to observe in the country. Bring along a blanket or lawn chair – after midnight this weekend, or before dawn this weekeknd – and lie back comfortably while gazing upward.
In August my children and I saw the best meteor that I have witnessed since I first became interested in meteor watching. Now they also have the same enthusiasm that I have for this fun hobby. The look on their faces as this huge meteor streaked across the sky leaving a huge purple tail for at least 20 seconds will be etched in my memories forever.
Marlene, I’m with you! I still have memories of a wonderful Perseid meteor shower that I saw from West Texas decades ago …
Thanks for visiting and commenting,
Deborah
Can we still see other shower during the early day. like 17-18 maybe. I really want to see one so bad.
Dear Earth and Sky,
Just thanking you for your writing about the Orionid shower. I’m an amateur astronomer in Colorado and have been involved in a number of “star parties” over the years. No matter how many powerful telescopes there are, the object that gets the most “oooh and ahhs” from pros and amateurs alike, is the witnessing of a simple meteor streaking across the night sky. Earth and Sky giving us information on the “peak” observation time is a big help. And, despite this year’s bright Moon, I and others will still rise early this week to “catch” a glimpse of one, two, or more these marvelous messengers from our universe. Again, appreciate all the good work E&S does for all of us! – Phillip
Phillip, how kind of you to write. Thank you. Hope you see some meteors!
Deborah
Last year I captured a bright Orionid streaking through the
constellation Aurgia on camera despite the moon die hards will
still be out.I’m planning on trying to capture one or two tonight
and lets not forget about the taurids slow bright meteors that
usually are bright fireball’s good luck everyone.
I’d be interested to know where you found your pronunciation for Orionid. Just heard your story about the meteor shower on the radio, and it sounded more like you were talking about a meteor shower named for a cookie rather than a constellation. Why is it not pronounced the same as the constellation is pronounced, with just the id added? That’s the way my professors pronounced it in the astronomy courses I took in college, and that’s how I pronouced it for 24 years of teaching. Have we been saying it wrong all these years?
Hi Rodger, all of us skywatchers have our favorite pronunciations! I learned my way of pronouncing the Orionids from veteran skywatcher and teacher extraordinarre Joe Patterson of Columbia University.
I don’t think there’s any correct or incorrect here. Just people having personal favs.
Clear skies,
Deborah
I just took a 10 minute walk around town and saw two orionids meteors, one nice one and one smaller, not bad considering it’s a couple days past peak and orionids isn’t supposed to be very good this year. The night sky is spectacular tonight with no clouds and little moonlight, a little chilly in PA though. Happy stargazing!
what moonlight? isn’t the phase nearly a new moon?
Hi Mark, yes, the moon is nearly new now, on October 28. In fact, new moon is today at 23:14 Universal Time (mid- to late-afternoon for most of the U.S.).
But when this shower peaked – around October 20-22 – the moon was closer to the last quarter phase. The moon was in the sky after midnight around that time – the peak hours for meteor-watching.
Deborah
My mistake…I heard your story on NPR on Monday (27th,) and assumed it was referring to Monday night/Tuesday morning…I did observe one lonely meteor around 5:15am (28th) in clear Colorado skies. Next time I will try to listen a little more closely to your show…but after all the boss does expect me to do some work.
Last night 10/28/08 around 7pm EST in Baltimore I saw a huge fireball through the clouds!!! Couldn’t believe it- looking for info on it. It was in the North Eastern sky traveling North. It was slow and extremly bright!!!!! If I had a clear view it would have been phenomenal!!!
Marcie, what you saw is called a bollide – a very bright meteor. It’s a piece of space debris entering Earth’s atmosphere, likely unconnected with the Orionid meteors. It’s said that each person on Earth will see a bollide at least once in a lifetime. Maybe this was yours!
Deborah
Was just now briefly glancing up in the pre-dawn morning sky looking towards the south and saw a meteor. Googled October meteor showers and came right here! Must have been a late Orionid, I figure.
I may have also seen a bollide, though at a different time. It was just about 10 p.m. PDT in Upland, east of Los Angeles, CA on Thursday (Oct. 30). There was a streak that lasted only about two seconds heading south to north just east of the zenith. It was remarkable because my first thought it was a firework of some kind because it had such a bright sparkly light like a sparkler. It was so bright that my wife, who was turned the other way, still saw the brightness in the sky. It was spectacular.
During a walk around 9:30pm central time in Northcentral, KS on October 28th my husband and I saw a spectacular event. A brillant white light (like a firework) exploded throught the Northeastern sky and traveled for approx 10 seconds toward the North. It was white at first and then changed to a brillant blue before it was no longer visible. My husband and I were both so awe struck that we were speechless. Not being star gazers, neither of us know what we saw! Any information would be appreciated. It was the most spectacular thing I have ever seen.
I saw a meteor in the western sky around 2am central on Oct. 29th in the North Texas sky. Did anyone else see one? I was not sure if there was a meteor shower going on for that time or not.
I saw a spectacular shooting something or other at 5:30pm Pacific time last night, November 18, 2008 as I left work. It was going from east to west high up in the sky and looked rather yellowish with a bit of red in it. At first I thought it was a plane or something about to crash but it disappeared and there was no plane crash so I thought it may have been a meteor. Did anyone else happen to see it? I am in Medford Oregon. Hope to hear that someone else saw it too!!!
Peri,
RE: November 18, 2008. Thank you for writing in…I saw it too! I’ve since learned that it was probably a Taurid meteor associated with the comet Encke and these are often called “Halloween Fireballs.” Seeing that bright orange and yellow fireball so low in the horizon really caught me off guard. I was on my way home from work in Medford, Oregon as well when I saw it. I still can’t believe it and am pretty frustrated that there is not more news about it. I have had a number of awesome life experiences, but this one rates somewhere in the top two or three!! Thanks again for writing in about what you saw. I have seen a couple of postings elsewhere, but I am unsure as to the etiquette of giving you that info in this forum. One lady who reported seeing the same thing wrote in from the Sacramento Valley in California.
I saw a bright flash of what must have been a meteor on Nov 18 around 5:30 as well. I am in the San Francisco bay area near San Jose. I saw it in front of me while driving north, low in the sky just over some office buildings. I am not sure if this is the same meteor (if it is even possible) but I found this video of an extremely bright meteor over Canada:
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=e_2aX-784sw
The one I saw was certainly not that bright.
saw it in livermore ca. walking dog . exact same description as others. i also was amazed it wasn’t on news. i went home and expected to see it on 6 pm news. maybe now my family will believe i wasn’t making this up.
My friend and I saw this same one around 5:30 pm in Sacramento. We were driving north on Watt Ave and saw it streak across the sky to the northwest. We were also surprised that it wasn’t on the news — I am sure more people saw it!
We were driving north on Highway 17 in San Jose, CA when my daughter shrieked. I looked up and saw it low on the horizon with a reddish/yellow glow. My husband thought we must have seen a shooting star, but I knew this was different because of the colors/size. Thank you for clearing up what it was.
I saw it too! Driving northbound just beyond the Golden Gate Bridge. I am so glad to hear others saw it… it was so extraordinary that afterward I thought I might have hallucinated the experience. Bright, large, low. Beautiful.
We live in B.C. Canada and my husband saw a huge fireball low in the horizon on Tuesday, Nov 18/08 at 5:30-6:00 p.m. Is it possible this was the same meteor that you are all describing?? I heard absolutley nothing about it here even though we are in a small town of 1900 people…….thank goodness someone else saw it!