Orionid Meteor Shower Peaks Overnight

zaman · Post by **zaman** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:00 pm

The Orionid meteor shower is expected to put on a good show tonight into the predawn hours Wednesday, weather permitting.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20091020/ ... sovernight

superiorstream · Post by **superiorstream** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 11:06 am

Hi,zaman
Yes,testerday night was a good one.The sky at my place was clear and I waited till 2am to watch so that the orion is well above the light polution region of the sky.At 02:32 a good one streek across orion towards the south.Subsequently I saw 2 more;but at 3:30am the clouds set in again and I am force to quit.Good showing Orionids this year.

rlow · Post by **rlow** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 12:57 pm

Last night four of us were observing meteors from 12.30am to 4.30am at our usual spot in Sedili Besar. Sky was clear and cloudless throughout (though some thin haze was present), the visual limiting magnitutde at zenith was around 6.3, and we were comfortably reclined on our foldable lounge chairs/beds looking for meteors. In total, our two lovely ladies saw about 35 nos each, I had seen 55 nos, but my wife saw 72 meteors even though she was asleep 50% of the time. More than 50% of what we saw were Orionids. Siti has excellent visual acuity that allows her to catch the faint and fast meteors. For example, in the first hour alone before she dozed off, our two ladies saw about half dozen each, I saw a dozen, but Siti had already seen 30 nos. We did see that bright 'fireball' at 2.32am.

Post by **acc** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 1:22 pm

Wow good catch. Obviously you are a bit sleep deprived cos' come of the pm's should be am's

rlow · Post by **rlow** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 2:21 pm

edited. yeah... was typing on autopilot....

superiorstream · Post by **superiorstream** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 2:24 pm

Hi,rlow and all meteor enthusiast
I really envy you guys because the weather is now so hot that throughout the watching my kid and I were watered with sweat-not to say sleeping;cant even concentrate properly.This comparison of what you see prove beyond any doubt that light polution is the greatest enemy of meteor obs besides clouds.Thanks

rlow · Post by **rlow** » Sat Oct 24, 2009 10:08 am

Chia, you should join us at Sedili, its cool and breezy there. Yes, the light pollution is the greatest factor for meteor visibility, apart from clouds. In Singapore, we can only see the brightest meteors.

superiorstream · Post by **superiorstream** » Sun Oct 25, 2009 11:32 am

Hi,rlow
Certainly like to join you in your obs in JB,but now the Cambridge exam is keeping me occupied with my kid.In fact I intend to go to JB with you or join Tasos or Singastro in one of those trip around Jan 10 to show my kid what a real dark sky is--well NZ is too cold for her!So thanks in advance.
By the way please pm me your tel no for I loss it.Solar activity is picking up fast;esp prominences and at times;real big ones--10 earth diameter--do occur and so if you like I can ph you to come and enjoy it.Also I even see a cheeky face and a lion face on the sun--posting later in the day-thanks.