A supermoon takes control of the sky, the meteor shower draconides gives a glance, and the meteor oronid shower shines.
- October 6: October Supermoon
- October 6-10: The Draconid meteor shower
- October 21: The Orionid Meteor Shower Peaks (full duration of September 26 – November 22)
What’s new for October? A supermoon takes over, the Draconid meteor shower jets a glance, and the meteors orionid sparkle in the night sky.
The evening of October 6, look at your eyes and be amazed because the full moon is larger and more brilliant because – it’s a supermoon!
Tonight, the moon could seem about 30% more brilliant and up to 14% larger than a typical full moon. But why?
Supermoons occur when a new moon or a full moon coincides with “pericé”, that is to say when the moon is closest to the earth throughout the month.
So it’s an exceptionally close moon! This explains its spectacular appearance.
And what the timing – while the Supermoon appears on October 6, is enough for a few days before October 4 is “International observes The Moon Night”!
It is an annual and global event when moon lovers come together to enjoy our natural satellite. You can assist or organize a vision festival of the moon, or simply observe the moon wherever you are.
So look up and celebrate the moon with people around the world!
The supermoon will light up the sky on October 6, but if you are lucky in a dark sky between October 6 and 10, you could attend the first of the two October meteors showers – Draconids!
The Draconid Meteor shower comes from debris that drag the comet 21p giacobini-zinner burning in the earth’s atmosphere
These meteors come from the head of the head of the Draco Constellation the dragon in the northern sky and the shower can produce up to 10 meteors per hour!
Draconids culminate around October 8, but if you can’t see it, you can still blame the bright super moon and wait a few weeks before the next meteor shower – Orionids!
Orionid Meteor’s shower, culminating on October 21, should present a spectacular spectacle, pulling around 20 meteors per hour in the night sky.
This meteor shower occurs when the earth moves through the debris dragging behind Halley’s comet and it burns in our atmosphere.
The full duration of the meteor shower extends from September 26 to November 22, but your best bet to see the meteors is October 21 before midnight until about 2 am.
Indeed, not only that evening, the peak of the shower is also the new October moon, which means that the moon will be between the earth and the sun, which makes it dark and invisible for us.
With a moonless sky, you are much more likely to catch a fireball that hides overnight.
So find a dark location after the sun’s bed, look towards the southeast sky (if you are in the northern hemisphere) and the northeast (if you are in the southern hemisphere) and take advantage of it!
The Meteors Orionid seem to come from the direction of the Constellation of Orion, but you could catch them throughout the sky.
Here are the moon phases for October.
You can stay up to date on all NASA missions exploring the solar system and beyond Science.Nasa.Gov.
I am Chelsea Gohd from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA, and that’s what’s going on this month.
