Sunday, October 30, 2016 - A Few Notes for October

  A little catching up since my first entry in this blog made a little over a month ago...

  I haven't done much amateur astronomy in October, except for a couple of Meteor Watching sessions early in the month from home.

  On Sunday evening, October 2, I sat in the lawn chair out in the back yard, just southeast of the shed, and looked high to the south for members of the October Capricornid (OCC) Shower. In his weekly column for the American Meteor Society website, Robert Lunsford mentioned that it was possible that this normally weak shower could produce an enhanced number of meteors this year. The parent comet of that shower, D/1978 R1 Haneda-Campos, is considered a "lost comet," but if it still exists, it is expected to reach perihelion in November this year. Lunsford asked experienced observers to be on the lookout for any activity, and noted that even negative observations of OCC meteors could be important. I was outside between 10:15 PM - 11:30 PM (2:15 - 3:30 UT October 3) and skies were mostly clear, although there was a high haze or fog in the air. It was 58F with 78% Humidity and the Wind was from the Northwest at 3 mph. New Moon had occurred the day before, so there was no moonlight interference. My Effective Time was 1.2 Hours, the Center of my Field of View was 22h 20m +20 (just west of the Great Square of Pegasus), and my Limiting Magnitude was only about 4.7, so conditions were far from ideal. In the end, I saw No Meteors at all; not even Sporadics. The October Capricornids would have been extremely slow speed and would have originated just a few degrees northwest of the star Alpha 2 Capricorni, far off to my right. I emailed the MeteorObs List, anyway, reporting this negative observation. Robert Lunsford himself emailed me back on Sunday with the message "Thanks for your efforts!" I thought that was very neat.

  The following weekend, on Saturday evening, October 8, I went out to that same location to do another meteor watch; this time to try to spot members of the annual Draconid (GIA) Shower. I watched between 10:55 PM - Midnight (2:55 - 4:00 UT October 9). Skies were mostly clear again with some haze or high cloud, and it was chilly. This time, the biggest issue was moonlight, since the Moon was at First Quarter and it was low in the West-Southwest, but bright enough to make my Limiting Magnitude about 4.8. I looked high to the West-Northwest this time, trying to keep that moonlight out of my direct vision. By midnight, the Moon had sunk to tree level and the sky was darker, but the radiant for the Draconid Shower was also low by that time. I saw no Draconids but during this time I did see one Southern Taurid and one Sporadic, so it was an entirely useless session.

  October itself has been a milder than normal month (like September was) and slightly

drier than normal as far as rainfall (unlike September, which had above normal rainfall). The Latest Record First Frost for Indianapolis has already been broken this year, according to one local meteorologist that I watch. That record was October 28, but as of today (October 30) we still haven't had that first frost, and there are no frosty nights predicted for the coming week. This weekend, the nights have been so mild that I am still hearing plenty of Crickets and other singing insects, including a few Katydids! There's still plenty of life around that, normally, has been killed off or sent into hiding by frosts and freezes.

  I took these photos (above) of the Red Maple Tree in our back yard yesterday, on Saturday, October 29. This tree is starting to show dramatic changes in foliage in just the last couple of days.

  I looked over the photos of it that I took last year, and it's clear to see that the foliage change has been delayed in 2016 compared to 2015. In 2015, this tree was at this stage around October 20. By October 24-25 it was at it's showiest red color, and by October 29 it was nearly bare of leaves.

  Another local meteorologist that I watch mentioned, a little over a week ago, that the peak autumn foliage has been delayed this year by the warmer and wetter than normal conditions that we've experienced over the last two months.