Meteor Showers Back, Another Supermoon: PA October Skygazing Guide

PENNSYLVANIA — Two fall meteor showers, the Orionids and the Taurids, are just beginning, and a third will soon join the lineup, creating plenty of opportunities to see shooting stars on cool, crisp October evenings across Pennsylvania.

Although the peaks of the shooting star shows making an appearance in October are still a few days or weeks away, meteors can blaze across the sky at any time. And if you’re lucky, you could see the aurora borealis, which has been dipping far south of the North Pole with regularity as the sun approaches what’s called solar maximum in its 11-year cycle.

Also in October, the full hunter's moon on the 17th is the third of four consecutive supermoons in 2024. The full harvest supermoon in September was the closest, and therefore the brightest of the string of supermoons, but the upcoming full hunter’s moon is “virtually tied for the closest of the year,” according to NASA.

Related: As Sun Nears Solar Maximum Peak, More Northern Lights Displays Likely

Here’s what you need to know about shooting star shows in October:

Draconids Can Be Surprising

This short meteor shower running from Oct. 6-10 and peaking on Oct. 8 differs from others in that it peaks in the early evening. The moon will be about 27 percent illuminated but will set before 9 p.m. local time.

The shower, sometimes called the Giacobinid meteor shower in honor of the astronomer who discovered the comet that produces it, passes almost without notice most years with only a smattering of meteors.

However, Draconid meteor storms can bring hundreds of shooting stars a minute in some years. Notable reports were filed in Europe in 1933, when 500 shooting stars a minute were observed, and in the United States in 1946, when 50 to 100 meteors an hour were reported.

Related: 2024 Guide To Meteor Showers, Supermoons, Other Celestial Events

Similar and lesser outbursts were reported in 1926, 1952, 1985, 1998 and 2011, according to Space.com skywatching columnist Joe Rao, who said such showy meteor showers seem “to occur only when the Earth passes just inside Comet Giacobini-Zinner's orbit shortly after the comet itself has gone by.”

Orionids Among Year’s ‘Most Beautiful’

The Orionid meteor shower, which runs Sept. 26-Nov. 22, usually produces only about 23 meteors an hour at its Oct. 20-21 peak, but is considered one of the most beautiful shooting star shows of the year, according to NASA.

The meteors are both bright and fast, entering Earth’s atmosphere at about 148,000 miles per hour. Meteors that fast can leave glowing trains — that is, incandescent bits of debris that can last several seconds or even minutes — and also fireballs.

This shower is best viewed between the hours of midnight and dawn. Viewing conditions aren’t great this year. The moon wool be about 79 percent illuminated during the peak, but because the Orionids are so fast and bright, the show may not be a total bust.

Taurids Ramble Along Throughout October

What makes the long-running Taurid meteor shower unique is that it consists of two separate streams — the first created by grain dust left behind by Asteroid 2004/TG10, and the second by dust grains left behind by Comet 2P/Encke.

Together, they run from about Sept. 28-Dec 2. Neither the Southern nor the Northern Taurids produce much more than five meteors an hour, but both streams are rich in fireballs and are often responsible for increased numbers of fireball reports, according to the American Meteor Society.

The moon will be about 11 percent full for the Southern Taurids’ Nov. 4-5 peak, and about 79 percent full for the Nov. 11-12 peak of the Northern Taurids.