SkyNews – September 2019

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019 •SKYNEWS 23

TYPE: METEOR SHOWER

VIEW:NAKED EYE

ORIONIDS PEAK UNDER A MIDNIGHT MOON

With this year’s Perseid and Geminid meteor showers being “mooned out,” we’re left with a

limited selection of relatively modest displays. Of these, the best is the Orionid shower, which

usually provides a fair to middling count of 10 to 20 meteors per hour. The Orionids peak on

the night of October 21/22, but even this display isn’t free of moonlight. The Orionids appear

to radiate from a point in northern Orion, which rises a little after 10:30 p.m., local daylight

time—two hours before a fat, waning crescent Moon. At least it’s not a full Moon!

The Orionids will be at their most active during the predawn hours of October 22. And

even if only a handful of meteors streak across the sky, you can enjoy a preview of the winter

constellations before that season’s cold winds begin to blow.

DATE: OCTOBER 21/22

TIME: AFTER MIDNIGHT

(^1) ⁄ 2 ° telescope
field of view
NeptuneSept 3
φAquarii
Sept 6
Sept 9
φAquarii
MONOCEROS
GEMINI
ORION
CANIS MINOR
LEPUS
E
Moon
SE
Radiant
×
AQUARIUS
CETUS
PISCES
PEGASUS
SE
Fomalhaut
TAURUS
CANCER
EXPLORING THE NIGHT SKY