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OCTOBER’S cosmic calendar is bustling with two stunning meteor showers on the way – and your last chance to see a ‘once in a lifetime’ comet.
Bright Comet C/2023 A3 will be making a close pass of Earth over the coming days – which will be visible on two occasions in October.
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The Draconid meteor shower will be active between 6 and 10 October, but will peak around 8 to 9 October.
Comet 21 P/Giacobini-Zinner is expected to zoom past Earth next week, where stargazers can see roughly 10 shooting stars per hour.
While certainly one of the more tame meteor displays in recent years, the Draconids caused some of the most active displays of the 20th century in 1933 and 1946.
Unlike other meteor showers that are better caught early in the morning, the Draconids are best seen in the evening.
Fortunately the entire meteor shower occurs just before the Moon’s first quarter phase, when the lunar disk is in waxing crescent.
This means observing conditions will be good, with little lunar luminosity casting light in the sky.
Orionid meteor shower
The Orionid meteor shower, one of the best known and most reliable shooting star displays, is active from 2 October to 7 November.
However, it will reach peak activity – when it will be visible to most people – between night and dawn of 21 and 22 October.
Experts at the Royal Greenwich Observatory note that stargazers should be able to see the shower for several days on either side of this ‘peak’ date.
Stargazers will be able to see up to 25 shooting stars per hour during its height.
Although it’s important to note that the Moon will be in waning gibbous, the phase that follows a full Moon, where much of the lunar disk will be illuminated.
The annual meteor shower is the rocky debris from Comet Halley, which swings by Earth roughly once every 75 years.
What is a meteor shower?
Here’s what you need to know…
- During a meteor shower, fireballs appear to streak across the sky
- This happens because pieces of debris are rapidly burning up as they enter Earth’s atmosphere
- That debris is often left behind by a collision between two space objects, like a planet or comet
- The Orionids shower is debris from Halley’s Comet, a huge chunk of ice orbiting the Sun
- Many meteor showers are repeated
- They occur at a height of around 62 miles
Comet C/2023 A3
Comet C/2023 A3, also known as Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, is also expected to reach peak brightness between 27 September and 2 October.
Its two-pronged tail of dust and ice, one white and one blue, will be illuminated by the sun thanks to its orientation in the inner solar system, meaning it will be more visible to stargazers on Earth.
Some astronomers believe it could be as bright as the 20 brightest stars in the night sky.
If you fail to catch it in the next two days – fear not.
Stargazers in the UK and the US will likely have their best chance to see comet A3 in post-sunset skies around 12 October.
This is when it will have re-emerged from the sun’s glare and reach its closest proximity to Earth – at a safe distance of roughly 44million miles.
The comet can be found in the Ophiuchus constellation, above the western horizon.
You can download an astronomy app on your iPhone or Android to help you find Ophiuchus in the sky.
What’s the difference between an asteroid, meteor and comet?
Here’s what you need to know, according to Nasa…
- Asteroid: An asteroid is a small rocky body that orbits the Sun. Most are found in the asteroid belt (between Mars and Jupiter) but they can be found anywhere (including in a path that can impact Earth)
- Meteoroid: When two asteroids hit each other, the small chunks that break off are called meteoroids
- Meteor: If a meteoroid enters the Earth’s atmosphere, it begins to vapourise and then becomes a meteor. On Earth, it’ll look like a streak of light in the sky, because the rock is burning up
- Meteorite: If a meteoroid doesn’t vapourise completely and survives the trip through Earth’s atmosphere, it can land on the Earth. At that point, it becomes a meteorite
- Comet: Like asteroids, a comet orbits the Sun. However rather than being made mostly of rock, a comet contains lots of ice and gas, which can result in amazing tails forming behind them (thanks to the ice and dust vaporizing)
