Wrap up warm for an extraordinary display

FIRST the good news. Astronomers all over the world are predicting the Draconids, normally one of the less spectacular of our annual meteor showers, will put on an extraordinary display this year.

A zenithal hour rate in excess of 600 meteors is being widely predicted with the possibility rates may even go as high a 1000 per hour – that’s nearly 17 per minute, if my arithmetic is right, or rather more than one every four seconds.

Now the bad news. The peak of the shower is abrupt and very short, lasting little more than an hour, and will occur sometime between 16.00UT (5pm BST) and 23.00UT (midnight BST) on the evening of Saturday, October 8. Thus, the peak may occur before true darkness falls and, as Draconids are not the brightest of meteors, most of the shooting stars will be drowned in twilight.

Also, the waxing gibbous moon, 23 per cent lit, will have risen at 12.36UT and won’t be setting until 19.12UT, by then 25 per cent illuminated.

During this time its silvery light could easily obscure the event. However, this is not going to happen every day – it only happened twice in the 20th century – so if the skies are clear then every skywatcher should be out from moonset on to midnight.

Wrap up warmly, take your deck chair somewhere dark, and relax for a few hours with your eyes towards the zenith.

The radiant is in the north-nor west, near the bright star, Vega, in the constellation of Draco, but don’t stare at the point from which the meteors seem to stream. Keep Vega either directly to your left or to your right and enjoy the view.

ON Tuesday, October 4, and Wednesday, October 5, Caithness Astronomy Group will be hosting Professor Martin Hendry, of Glasgow University.

In addition to giving presentations to school pupils, Prof Hendry will be giving free public lectures in Thurso High School at 7.30pm on Tuesday and in Castlehill Heritage Centre on Wednesday night at the same time.

His topic in Thurso will be “What Put the Iron in Irn-Bru?”, where he discusses the origin of the elements, while at Castlehill he will be outlining the importance of the transit of Venus in calculating the astronomical unit – the distance from the earth to the Sun – under the title, “Captain Cook and the Cosmic Yardstick”.

THE MONTH IN BRIEF

On October 8 the group hopes to observe the Draconid outburst at a time and place yet to be announced.

The naked-eye planets:

Mercury – Not observable, having passed behind the sun last month.

Venus – Passed behind the sun in August and still too near to it to be observable here.

Mars – A very early morning object moving into Leo. Rising around midnight.

Jupiter – At opposition and, therefore, closest to us this year on the 29th. Brilliantly visible all night, every night, all month.

Saturn – Opposite us on the other side of the sun and out of sight all month.

Meteors:

October, 8 – The Draconids peak in the early evening. There’s a possibility of a spectacular storm but moonlight could be a problem.

21st – The Orionids peak in the early morning but, again, moonlight could present a problem.

30th – At 2am on Sunday morning British Summer Time ends. The clocks go back an hour to GMT – in line with Universal Time.

Aurora:

Solar activity is stuttering upwards – keep an eye on the northern sky every clear night.

Phases of the Moon:

Tuesday, October 4, 03.15UT – first quarter.

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