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This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the week ending Wednesday, October 24, 2012. Here is what’s happening in the skies of Southern California:
The annual Orionid meteor shower reaches its peak this weekend and is producing meteors that can be seen between 11:00 p.m. and dawn. The best time to look is in the interval beginning at 11:11 p.m., P.D.T. on Saturday the 20th, when the crescent moon sets, until the sky begins to brighten at 5:40 a.m., the following morning. In the pre-dawn peak hours, up to 25 Orionids per hour are expected to be visible from wilderness areas where urban light pollution is absent. Hourly rates of Orionid meteors, however, have been known to vary from this average count by a factor of 3 either way. The shower’s brightest meteors can be seen from suburban locations. The meteor shower is one of two that are produced annually when the earth travels through particles shed by comet Halley in past centuries. The next appearance of comet Halley is still more than 49 years in the future.
The moon will reach first quarter phase on Sunday night, October 21, and appears gibbous on the remaining nights this week. The time of moonset advances from 10:06 p.m. to 2:19 a.m. between the 17th and 24th. On Wednesday the 17th at 6:45 p.m., the moon will be to the lower right of the planet Mars and to the upper left of the planet Mercury. The glittering star to the left of the moon that night is Antares of Scorpius the Scorpion. On the night of the 20th, some amateur astronomers, using large telescopes, will monitor the unlit portion of the moon for flashes of light made by impacting Orionid meteoroids.
The brilliant planet Jupiter, in Taurus the Bull, is eye catching above the east-northeast horizon after it rises at about 9:00 p.m. The planet passes just south of overhead at 4:00 a.m.
The brightest planet, Venus, is visible in the east starting at 4:00 a.m. The planet may still be glimpsed at sunrise when it is 35 degrees high.
Free views of the sun during the day and of the moon, planets, and other celestial objects at night, are available to the public in clear weather five days a week (Wednesday-Sunday) through Griffith Observatory’s telescopes before 9:30 p.m. Check our website for our schedule. The next Griffith Observatory public star party, hosted by Los Angeles Astronomical Society and the Sidewalk Astronomers, is scheduled for Saturday, October 20.
From Griffith Observatory, I’m Anthony Cook, and I can be reached at griffithobserver@gmail.com.