By Alice Enevoldsen
Special to West Seattle Blog

There are currently eight active meteor showers over our heads (which is more common than it sounds), from which you can expect to see about 4 meteors per hour, though if you happen to catch the peak you might see as many as 30 per hour.

Around 5 am or earlier on the next three mornings — October 21, 22, and 23 — will be the peak of the Orionids Meteor Shower. Given good viewing conditions, you can expect to see about 10 meteors per hour, up to 20 meteors per hour during the peak times. These meteors will seem to radiate from just above and to the left (east) of the constellation Orion, high in the south:

(Radiant of the Orionid meteor shower. Starfield from Stellarium)

Around 6-6:30 am on October 22nd will be the peak of the Epsilon Geminids. You might see as many as 2-3 meteors per hour. Watch for these radiating from the constellation Gemini, just a little farther east and higher in the sky than the Orionids.

Also, 5:30 am-6:30 am on October 22nd is the peak of the Leonis Minorids, which adds up to another 4-10 meteors we might per hour before dawn on the 22nd. These will be radiating from the constellation Leo, about halfway up the sky in the east (great chance to look at Venus, Mars, and Jupiter as well).

The other five showers are even more minor, each with rates of between 1-3 meteors per hour, though some of those can be fireballs/bolides. The American Meteor Society has a report of a fireball from last night, which could easily be one of these meteors. Those showers are the Southern Taurids, the Gamma Piscids, the Eta Taurids, the October Luncids, and the Tau Cancrids.

To set your expectations for the coming evenings, with these three showers happening at the same time we have a chance at a few very nice shooting stars this week, especially if you’re up early in the morning watching the skies. This isn’t one of the biggest meteoric events of the year, but meteor showers vary.

RESOURCES

Meteors: Meteor Activity Outlook October 17-23 (All dates and times are from this source).

Stellarium: free planetarium software for your home computer, or Android device. Bring up the sky for anywhere in the world, any time and date in history or the future.

Clear Sky Chart: the astronomer’s forecast for the next couple days. Cloud cover, darkness, and “seeing” which is how nice it is to view the stars, all on one handy chart.

WHO IS ALICE?

The suggestions and opinions put forth in this article are Alice’s own and not those of any organizations to which she belongs. You can find more about astronomy from Alice at alicesastroinfo.com or on Twitter as @AlicesAstroInfo and Facebook.