[sci.astro] StarDate: October 20 Meteors and Moonlight

dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (10/20/86)

A meteor shower -- and the moon -- after this.

October 20  Meteors and Moonlight

A meteor shower peaks before dawn on Tuesday.  It's the Orionid shower
-- so named because the meteors appear to radiate from the
constellation Orion.  This shower generally produces a meteor every few
minutes -- or about 25 per hour.  Unfortunately, this year, even if you
avoid city lights, there's no way to avoid another source of bright
light -- the moon.  This year's Orionid meteor shower is expected to be
drowned in moonlight.

Meteors are bits of space debris, mostly tiny fragments of ice and dust
left behind in the orbits of comets.  The Orionid meteors have a famous
parent comet -- Comet Halley.  They were shed by the comet long ago,
when Halley's orbit was slightly different than it is now.  So Halley's
recent return shouldn't make much difference in the number of Orionid
meteors you might expect to see -- that is, if you see any meteors at
all in the light of the moon.

The moon itself is of interest tonight, though.  After moonrise late
this evening, it will be near in the sky to a famous star --
Aldebaran.  Aldebaran is supposed to represent the fiery red eye of the
bull in the constellation Taurus -- and if you look closely, you'll see
that this star really is red in color.  It's what is called a red giant
star -- one near the end of its life.  The outer layers of this star
have become swollen and bloated --less dense -- and therefore cool and
red.  Aldebaran is located at one tip of a V-shaped pattern of stars --
representing the bull's face.  You should have no trouble seeing the
moon and the star Aldebaran nearby -- late Monday night or Tuesday
morning.

Script by Deborah Byrd.
(c) Copyright 1985, 1986 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin