This week’s main event, meteor-wise, is the maximum of the Orionids. These meteors were produced by Comet Halley over 2000-3000 years ago and would put on quite a show if, and there’s usually an if, it weren’t for the Full Moon spoiling the view. The Orionids have a broad maximum that may last up to 5 days. This year high rates are expected from October 20 to 25 with the peak occurring on the 22nd. This year also sees a few dust trail encounters (1266 BC trail on Oct. 21 9hrs UT and 911 BC on Oct. 25 4hrs UT).
Though ZHR rates of 40-50 per hour are expected the bright moonlight will make actual visible rates much lower, probably in the 10-20 per hour range.
Obs Date(UT) Time TOT SPO DAU NTA STA ORI OCA GIA TUM EGE LMI SAL3 2010-10-19 05h 28m 53 15 - 1 2 32 - - - 3 0 ALLS 2010-10-19 03h 43m 24 2 - 0 1 17 - - - 2 2 SAL3 2010-10-18 03h 53m 15 8 - 0 1 6 - - 0 0 ALLS 2010-10-18 04h 10m 14 9 - 0 1 4 - - 0 0 SAL3 2010-10-17 06h 28m 44 22 - 0 5 11 - - 2 1 SAL3 2010-10-16 00h 49m 3 1 - 0 2 0 - - 0 0 SAL3 2010-10-15 02h 09m 6 2 - 0 1 2 - - 0 1 SAL3 2010-10-14 09h 20m 34 21 - 2 4 6 - - 0 1 SAL3 2010-10-13 10h 42m 38 23 - 1 8 3 - - 1 2 SAL3 2010-10-12 10h 51m 20 14 - 2 1 3 - - 0 SAL3 2010-10-11 10h 50m 34 27 - 2 3 2 - - SAL3 2010-10-10 10h 47m 39 24 2 1 2 7 - 3 SAL3 2010-10-09 10h 34m 40 29 1 1 5 4 - 0 SAL3 2010-10-08 10h 38m 36 22 2 2 4 6 - 0 SAL3 2010-10-07 10h 42m 29 24 2 1 1 0 1 0 SAL3 2010-10-06 01h 02m 4 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 SAL3 2010-10-05 04h 25m 9 6 0 0 3 0 0 SAL3 2010-10-04 01h 22m 1 1 0 0 0 0 SAL3 2010-10-03 04h 29m 22 19 2 0 0 1 SAL3 2010-10-02 10h 21m 24 20 1 1 1 1 SAL3 2010-10-01 07h 15m 28 23 1 2 2 - SAL3 - SALSA3 camera in Tucson (Carl Hergenrother) ALLS - Near all-sky camera in Tucson (Carl Hergenrother) VIST - Visual observations from Tucson (Carl Hergenrother) SDG - Camera in San Diego operated by Bob Lunsford Time - 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) ANT - Antihelions DAU - Delta Aurigids NTA - Northern Taurids STA - Southern Taurids