More continuing 2023 Orionid Meteor Shower observations

For the third night in a row I was able to get out this morning (10/21/23) for two hours in the pre-dawn (4:05 to 6:05 am) from my new roadside location along CR 204 in southern St. Johns County. Although there were long lulls in the activity, the Orionids did pick up some and I was able to top 20 an hour from them for the first time this year.

There was no fog apparent this morning and the sky was glittering with the winter Milky Way riding the Meridian. Conditions were quite pleasant save the ever present mosquitoes. There were no fireballs that I saw this morning, but all told in the two hours, I had 65 total meteors with 38 of them Orionids, 2 epsilon Geminids, 5 Taurids and 20 sporadics.

Although I counted them officially as sporadic, three meteors this morning sure as heck looked like very early Leonids to me! The "books" say the Leonids don't officially start until early November, but those three looked just like Leonids to me... after all, I've only seen a couple thousand of them across the decades...;o).

There were a couple of real nice Orionids this morning in the -1 to zero magnitude range and many of the very short, one to two degree long meteors that set the Orionids apart from all the other major showers. They should continue to pick up over the next two or three mornings and as long as the weather holds, I shall be out there to monitor them. More to come...

Hourly counts from this morning (10/21/23)

4:05 to 5:05 am - 22 Orionids, 2 epsilon Geminids, 3 Taurids and 12 sporadics (2 Leonid lookalikes), for a total of 39 meteors

5:05 to 6:05 am - 16 Orionids, 2 Taurids and 8 sporadics (1 Leonid lookalike) for a total of 26 meteors.