Today:
This month’s second minor meteor shower finds its peak activity over the next few nights, though, like the southern Taurid Meteor Shower early last week, the Northern Taurids tonight are a long-lasting shower, active through October into December. The numbers will be fairly low, 5 to 10 per hour, but the rocky fragments are larger than average, creating a few larger, brighter fireballs, a challenge with the bright moonlight.
Wednesday:
The mid-winter stars rise earlier each evening, as the Earth makes its appointed journey around the Sun. By 9 o’clock, the familiar stars of Orion are in the east, and are joined by the bright star Procyon, just rising at 9:00 PM EST. This is the dominant star in the constellation Canis Minor, the Little Dog.
Thursday:
As twilight arrives, the nearly-Full Moon rises in the east-northeast, becoming Full early tomorrow morning, directly opposite the Sun. Like most Full Moons, this one passes just outside the Earth’s shadow, which means there won’t be a Lunar Eclipse. The tilted orbit of the Moon, and the timing, won’t be right for a Lunar Eclipse until March of 2025.