10/19/2017 – Ephemeris – Bits of Halley’s Comet will rain down on Earth this weekend

Ephemeris for Thursday, October 19th. The Sun will rise at 8:03. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 47 minutes, setting at 6:50. The Moon is new today, and won’t be visible.

The Orionid meteor shower is ramping up. This is the second of two visits of bits of Halley’s* comet this year, and every year, really. These are particles shed by the comet in past visits to the inner solar system. They are pretty much evenly strewn out along its orbit. The comet itself is now out past Neptune, and will reach aphelion, its farthest distance from the Sun around 2024, poised to head back to the inner solar system in 2061. It was last spotted in 2003 when it was just inside Neptune’s orbit. Anyway the Orionid meteors will appear to come from above the left side of constellation of Orion, about where the tip of his club is. They are best seen this weekend, in the early morning sky, with a possible 20 per hour visible.
Orionid meteor shower Saturday a.m.

The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location

* A contemporary of Edmund Halley, Samuel Pepys,  spelled his name Hawley.  We presume he pronounced it that way.

Addendum

The Orionid meteor shower radiant at 5 a.m. October 21, 2017. The radiant rises at 11 p.m., so the meteors will be visible from then into morning twilight. Dispite the lication of the radiant, the meteors will b e seen all over the sky.  However true Orionids can be traced back to the radiant point. Created using Stellarium.