By Rick Nowell

The Orionid meteor shower occurs between October 2 and November 7; with the peak on Wednesday October 21/22, at 15 meteors per hour.

This can vary from year to year, with a likely 12-year cycle of strong and weak peaks ranging from 31 to 14 meteors per hour; and another factor which has seen 70 meteors/hr. This year is likely a weaker shower.

These meteors come in at 66 km/s, the remnants of Comet Halley. The Moon will be at it’s first quarter; or half-illuminated, which will drown out the fainter meteors, until it sets after midnight. After midnight is a good time to view it, until dawn. The meteors should radiate out from the north part of Orion by his club (see starmap above).

If you’re up early (7 a.m.) check out the meteors and look in the east for a string of bright planets. In this map, the horizon is the green line along bottom, with directions marked by E, SE.

Mercury is at its highest in the morning sky, as of Oct 16. It should be visible above the Eastern horizon for only a week before drifting back down. In a telescope, Mercury looks like a half-lit crescent moon.

Jupiter sits close to the right of Mars, above Mercury, by the tail of Leo. Mars is the orange tinged dot. Jupiter is bright white, and if you have good binoculars, can be identified by its four moons. However, as the Earth gets nearer to Mars in its orbit, Mars will become brighter and brighter, exceeding the brightness of Jupiter by May 2016.

Venus is above those planets, below the constellation of Leo.  Venus is very bright and would be a crescent shape in a telescope. It reaches its highest position above the eastern horizon on Oct. 26.

– Rick Nowell is the Astronomy Lab Tech at College of the Rockies.

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