Updated Faroe Island slide show

Faroe Islands

I just realized there was a permission problem with the photos I posted in my eclipse report from the Faroe Islands. I have updated the post to include a new, correct link to the  photo slide show 

Orionid Meteor Shower this Wed night

The Orionid Meteor Shower peaks this Wednesday  night.

Like all meteor showers, the Orionids are visible from anywhere on Earth. All you need is a dark location, and clear skies to view them. So if you are adventurous, go down to the dark desert. Otherwise find a relatively dark corner away from street lights.

The shower peaks on the night of the 21st (Wed night, Thur morning) Like most meteor showers, this one peaks after midnight, with most meteors (about 10 per hour) visible as we get closer to dawn. This year the moon sets by midnight so it will be out of the way as a light source. The weather is a bit iffy, but Barry's forecast currently shows  clear skies for most of the night in the Jerusalem area.

You can read more about the Orionid shower and EarthSky.

-tom

More on the lunar eclipse

I hope those of you who got up at 5am were not disappointed. My kids and I certainly were not!  I was up a little after 5:30 and saw a copper Moon fully eclipsed. A few minutes later I noticed a bright star in the west. Then I realized it was moving through Cassiopeia and realized that at that brightness it must be the ISS space station Others reported seeing the ISS and also bright Venus high in the east. (There was no view to the east from my porch).

Since it was Hag I could not take any pictures, but you can of course Google for lots of stunning pics and videos of this even. I want to share 2 of my favorite here.

There where several articles on APOD for the past few days, but my favorite is an older lunar eclipse montage that allows you to clearly see the outline of the earths shadow.

In addition, from one of my favorite astro sites Shadow and Substance, here is a collection of animation of the eclipse. Each animation shows a view from a different perspective that really give an insight into what is happening.