Meteor showers and a partial eclipse: October is a busy month for NY stargazing

An afternoon partial solar eclipse in the middle of the month and two meteor showers make October ideal for fall stargazing.

The Draconid meteor shower makes its appearance Oct. 6 through 10, peaking between Oct. 8 and 9.

The moon will blot out about a fifth of the sun during midday on Oct. 14, as part of the annular eclipse. Toward the end of the month, the Orionid meteor shower will peak after midnight on Oct. 21 and 22, and this astronomical lightshow will last until Thanksgiving.

“October is a busy month,” said Bart Fried, executive vice president of the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York.

The Draconids

October’s first meteor shower is the result of debris from the Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner on its 6.6 year orbit around the sun. The first recorded observation of the comet was by Michel Giacobini in 1900 from Nice Observatory in France. Its next appearance will be in 2025.

The comet’s dust of ice and debris makes a brief, but dazzling show with a peak rate of 10 meteors per hour on a good dark sky. New York City’s light pollution will make it difficult to see the fleeting light show. Astronomy buffs will have to find dark skies to catch a glimpse during the peak, beginning around 9 p.m. on Oct. 8 until the early hours of the next morning.

While there’s a chance to see a couple of these streaks of light from Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, Fried recommends going as far north as the Catskills for the best views.

To find the Draconids, first locate the Little Dipper toward the northwest portion of the sky and find the end of its handle, the star Polaris. Close by, there are two stars: Eltanin and Rastaban, the bright eyes of the constellation Draco — the Dragon, not the Harry Potter character. The meteor shower’s namesake dragon will mark the area…