Oct 5/6 Meteors

Carl Hergenrother

The weather has cleared here in the southwest US. Bob’s Chula Vista site was clouded out the previous two nights and my Tucson sight lost a night.

Two additional meteors showers are now active, the October Camelopardalids (OCA) and the Giacobinids/Draconinds (GIA). The OCA were predicted to peak on the morning of the 5th. Unfortunately, both my and Bob’s cameras were clouded out. I have not read of any reports about the peak of this shower.

Obs  Date (UT)   TotTime TOT SPO NTA STA DAU ORI OCA GIA
Carl 2008-10-06   9h 57m  20  12  2   1   0  3   2   0
Bob  2008-10-06  10h 32m  79  61  5   10  0  1   2   0

TotTime – Total amount of time each camera looked for meteors
TOT – total number of meteors detected
SPO – Sporadics (meteors not affiliated with any particular meteor shower)
NTA – Northern Taurids
STA – Southern Taurids
DAU – δ-Aurigids (Delta Aurigids)
ORI – Orionids
OCA – October Camelopardalids
GIA – Giacobinids (also known as Draconids)

Published by Carl Hergenrother

I am a professional astronomer specializing in the study of comets, asteroids and meteors. This blog will focus on my professional and amateur work in this field.

3 Comments

  1. we saw a big fireball last night about 9:30 PM CST Oct 6 in the NE sky in Oklahoma panhandle USA. it appeared to have broken up into 2 pieces. Lasted a good 3-4 seconds. Could this be related to the OCA or GIA showers?

  2. Hi Velma,

    Thanks for sending in your sighting. It is possible that you saw a OCA or GIA though there have been very few sightings from these showers this year. Another possibility is a Taurid (NTA/STA). The Taurids are known for producing lots of bright and relatively slow moving fireballs throughout the night. It is also possible that it is not related to any particular shower. Do you remember what direction it came from? That will help figuring out if it is related to any shower.

    Thanks again,
    – Carl

  3. Wednesday 10/8 night d-riving up I35 from Riverwind to Norman my mother and I saw something north of norman that looked like a shooting star but man I have never seen one so close to us – you could make out detailed flames and a huge tail…to be honest it kind of freaked us out because we both have never seen anything like it so close before

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