10/08/2015 – Ephemeris – The Draconid meteors will reach peak overnight tonight

Ephemeris for Thursday, October 8th.  The Sun will rise at 7:49.  It’ll be up for 11 hours and 21 minutes, setting at 7:10.   The Moon, half way from last quarter to new, will rise at 4:33 tomorrow morning.

For this and the next few morning the Moon will pass the morning planets.  This morning it’s Venus, tomorrow it will be near Mars and Jupiter, and Sunday morning it will be near Mercury.

This evening is the expected peak of the Draconid meteor shower.  We can expect anything between zero and hundreds of meteors an hour.  The calculated time of the peak number will be around 1:40 a.m.  (5:40 UT, October 9). The point in space they will appear to come from is the head of the constellation Draco the dragon, a bit north of the bright star Vega, high in the west in the evening.  Meteor experts don’t expect much from the shower this year, but the Draconids are capricious, you never know what to expect.  However we do expect them to be slow-moving.

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

Addendum

The entire sky dome including the Draconid Radiant (DraR) for 9 p.m. October 8, 2015 (1:00 UT 10/9). Created with my LookingUp program.

The entire sky dome including the Draconid Radiant (DraR) for 1:40 a.m. October 9, 2015 (05:40 UT). Created with my LookingUp program.

Morning planet animation for 7 a.m. October 8 to 11, 2015. Click on image to enlarge.  Note the Moon’s size is tripled for visibility.  Created using Stellarium 0.13 and GIMP.

05/22/2014 – Ephemeris – Meteor storms past and maybe this Saturday morning

Ephemeris for Thursday, May 22nd.  Today the sun will be up for 15 hours and 3 minutes, setting at 9:11.   The moon, 1 day past last quarter, will rise at 3:14 tomorrow morning.  Tomorrow the sun will rise at 6:06.

The meteors from Comet 209P/LINEAR have not been completely unseen in the past, but their occurrence had never piqued the interest of meteor observers before.  So the comet has left debris in its orbit.  Some astronomers have been doing calculations on the orbital dynamics of a hypothetical meteor sward that may have developed near the comet.  These swarms are not unprecedented.  There’s the Leonid meteor storms that come every 33 years around November 17th that occur when its comet is near the Earth.  Another is the less dramatic Draconids of early October, when its comet Giacobini-Zinner is in the neighborhood.  The meteor storm is expected to peak around 3 a.m. this Saturday morning the 24th.

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

Addendum

A famous woodcut of the 1833 Leonid meteor storm.

A photograph of the 1966 Leonid meteor storm by A. Scott Murrell. 40 meteors can be counted in the 10-12 minute exposure. Credit: P. Jenniskens/NASA-ARC http://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/.

The Draconid meteor shower peaks tonight

The Draconid meteor shower is lackluster most years with a handful of meteors an hour, and this is one of those.  However every once and a while all heaven breaks loose.   It’s related to Comet Giacobini-Zinner, a short period comet.  The radiant is overhead in the early evening, so this is a rare meteor shower best seen in the evening rather than the morning sky.

Here’s a link to my post a couple of years ago (2011) about it including  a finder chart:  https://bobmoler.wordpress.com/2011/10/06/100611-ephemer…-meteor-shower/

For this year check out the site EarthSky.org and their take on the Draconids.

Draconid Meteor Shower Radiant

The red triangle delineates the Summer Triangle.

 

10/08/2012 – Ephemeris – The Draconid Meteor Shower

Ephemeris for Columbus Day, Monday, October 8th.  The sun will rise at 7:49.  It’ll be up for 11 hours and 19 minutes, setting at 7:09.   The moon, at last quarter today, will rise at 1:13 tomorrow morning.

The peak of the Draconid meteor shower is about now, (6-7 a.m. when the program airs)  as the radiant point for these meteors is low in the north.  They will be visible for the next few days  seeming to radiate from the head of the constellation Draco, near the star Vega high in the west.  These meteors are best about every 7 years, the last was last year.  So maybe we may see 15 to 20 of these meteors per hour this time.  These meteors are debris shed by Comet Giacobini-Zinner a short period comet of only 6.6 years.  These meteors are very slow moving,  about a third the velocity of the Perseid meteors of August.  Meteors are the light given off by tiny bits of material sand grain to pea size as a rule as they burn up by friction due to their great speed.

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

Addendum

Draconid Meteor Shower Radiant

10/10/11 – Ephemeris – What happened with the Draconids last Saturday?

Columbus Day (observed), Monday, October 10th.  The sun will rise at 7:51.  It’ll be up for 11 hours and 16 minutes, setting at 7:07.   The moon, 1 day before full, will set at 7:31 tomorrow morning.

Last Saturday nights International Observe the Moon Night coincided with the Draconid meteor shower.  The Draconids are a periodic shower, not good most years, and when they do appear the shower, or rather meteor storm doesn’t last very long.  The bright moon didn’t help, and the peak was predicted to occur in the afternoon our time.  The meteors did appears, and right on time, too early for us to have seen it.  The best way to detect them with a bright moon is with radio.  And using that technique the estimated the peak of Draconid meteors was over 200 per hour. The responsible comet, Giacobini-Zinner, will pass our orbit next February, and may give us a chance to spot the Draconids in darker skies next year.

* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.  They may be different for your location.

10/06/11 – Ephemeris – The Draconid meteor shower

Thursday, October 6th.  The sun will rise at 7:46.  It’ll be up for 11 hours and 28 minutes, setting at 7:14.   The moon, 3 days past first quarter, will set at 3:26 tomorrow morning.

This weekend astronomers expect the meteor shower called the Draconids.  This is a periodic shower which is active about once every six years.  That is because it is related to a short period comet called Giacobini-Zinner.  It was discovered in 1900 by the two named astronomers.  Its orbit stretches from the earth’s orbit to somewhat past Jupiter’s.  When the comet passes near the earth’s orbit we pass through a cloud of its debris when we get to that same spot.  Giacobini-Zinner will do so next February.  The comet’s nucleus is estimated to be a bit more than a mile in diameter.  The Draconid meteors will appear to come from north of the bright star Vega, which is a bit west of overhead at 9 in the evening.

* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.  They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Draconid Meteor Shower Radiant

10/03/11 – Ephemeris – More celestial events for this month

Monday, October 3rd.  The sun will rise at 7:42.  It’ll be up for 11 hours and 37 minutes, setting at 7:19.   The moon, at first quarter today, will set at 12:10 tomorrow morning.

We have more celestial happenings this month than I could enumerate last Friday.  Later on Saturday evening, if it’s clear the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will join with astronomy groups, planetariums and observatories with International Observe the Moon Night with telescopes positioned on the 200 block east Front Street in Traverse City, near the Martinek clock.  Going on that same evening will be the return of the Draconid meteor shower.  Its a favorable return of a periodic shower but interferes with by the bright moon.  However some bright meteors will be seen.  I’ll have more information and background Thursday.  Another meteor shower later this month will be the Orionids a morning shower related to Halley’s Comet.

* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.  They may be different for your location.