Orionid Meteor Shower Peak

[MeteorWayne]

The Orionid meteor shower is peaking for the next several days. Maximum rates are between 10-20 per hour for the entire period (flat topped peak), although short lived higher peaks have been reported.<br /><br />Orionids are one of two showers created by Comet 1/P Halley. Most streams create a shower occur only once, as the meteoroid orbits brush against the earth. Halley's comet, on the other hand has a perihelion inside of the earth's orbit (~ 0.6 AU) so we pass through the dust stream twice. The Orionids are inbound particles from the comet, and in early May we intercept outbound bits for the eta-Aquarid shower.<br /><br />The speeds are very fast, since Halley's orbit is retrograde, traveling around the sun in the opposite direction from the earth. The pre atmospheric speed is 66 km/s (~ 41 miles/s, or nearly 150,000 mph), and as a result, many of the brighter Orionids have persistant trains.<br /><br />The radiant (where the meteor's paths would intersect if projected backwards) is barely in Orion's borders at the peak, about halfway between Betelgeuse and the feet of Gemini.<br /><br />Four other minor showers are active these nights as well and each might add one or two meteors per hour to what you see.<br />The epsilon Geminids radiant is just above the Orionids, and it takes practice to seperate the two.<br />The Northern and Southern Taurids produce slow meteors, from a radiant currently located between the pentagon of Cetus (near the bottom of Pisces' "V") and Aries.<br />Finally, right before dawn, the Leo Minorids radiate between Leo and the front feet of Ursa Major.<br /><br />So if the weather is nice, check it out!<br />To learn more about how to collect useful meteor observations (Most data in the past century has come from amateur observers), visit the North American Meteor Network at http://www.namnmeteors.org/. <br />This site is designed to "recruit and train new observers in the methods of meteor observ <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[Boris_Badenov]

When I leave for work at 5am I have seen a fair number each of the past couple days. Very active, very pretty.<img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#993300"><span class="body"><font size="2" color="#3366ff"><div align="center">. </div><div align="center">Never roll in the mud with a pig. You'll both get dirty & the pig likes it.</div></font></span></font> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

Well I'm replying to myself to bump the thread.<br />The Orionids put on an exceptional display the past weekend with rates 2-3 times normal.<br />It was much better than I expected, and included a -10 magnitude fireball<br /><br />My totals were 54 Orionids in 3 hours during the morning of the 21st (77 total meteors), and 72 Orionids in 5 hours on the morning of the 22nd (104 total meteors)<br /><br />Here is the preliminary IMO results<br /><br />Date (UT) Time Solarlong nINT nORI ZHR +/-<br />---------- ------- ---------- ------- ------- ------- ---<br />Oct 20.008 0:12 206.374 13 90...........22 .... 2<br />Oct 20.438 10:31 206.802 9 208..........31 .... 2<br />Oct 21.291 6:59 207.650 18 496..........47 .... 2<br />Oct 21.862 20:41 208.218 13 172...........56 .... 4<br />Oct 22.040 10:59 208.396 12 284...........52 .... 3<br />Oct 22.147 3:32 208.502 12 289............57 ..... 3<br />Oct 22.257 6:10 208.611 11 235............53 .... 3<br />Oct 22.373 8:57 208.727 13 337............44 .... 2<br />Oct 22.941 22:35 209.292 8 104............42 .... 4<br />Oct 23.029 0:42 209.380 11 205............44 ....3<br />Oct 23.317 7:36 209.666 7 244.............36 ..... 2<br />Oct 24.285 6:50 210.631 12 263............35 .... 2<br />Oct 25.112 2:41 211.455 7 105............27 ....3<br /><br />The next shower of major interest is the Leonids, in mid November, with the minor Taurids in between.<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>