The Orionid meteor shower is coming Friday. Here’s how to watch.
- The Orionids are said to produce a maximum of about 10 to 20 meteors per hour.
- This meteor shower also sometimes produces bright fireballs.
- The Orionids get their name because they appear to come from the constellation of Orion the Hunter.
One of fall’s greatest astronomical spectacles will appear in the night sky later this week: the culmination of the Orionid meteor shower early Friday morning.
“The Orionids are popular with stargazers because all of their individual shooting stars are fragments of the most famous comet of all time, Halley’s Comet,” said Slooh astronomer Bob Berman.
The Orionids are active from around October 2nd to November 7th each year. This meteor shower is known for its brightness and speed; Each meteor can graze at speeds of up to 148,000 miles per hour.
Under a dark sky with no moon, the Orionids should produce a maximum of about 10 to 20 meteors per hour, according to EarthSky.org. These fast-moving meteors occasionally leave persistent trains in their wake. The Orionids also sometimes produce bright fireballs, reports EarthSky.org.
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Why are they called the Orionids?
The Orionids get their name because they appear to come from the constellation of Orion the Hunter, although the meteors can usually be seen across much of the night sky.
Specifically, the Orionids radiate from a point near the raised mace of the constellation Orion the Hunter. “The bright star near the bright spot is a reddish, dim Betelgeuse,” EarthSky said.
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A waning crescent shouldn’t disrupt the meteor shower as it peaks on Friday.
How are the Orionids related to Halley’s Comet?
As Halley’s Comet moves through space, it leaves behind debris that hits Earth’s atmosphere hardest between October 20 and 22 each year. Although the comet itself is not close to Earth, we are now crossing the comet’s orbit.
The actual comet can only be seen about once every 75 years — the next sighting is in 2062 — but this meteor shower can be seen around this time every year.
The American Meteor Society said that in exceptional years like 2006-2009, peak rates were at Perseid levels at 50-75 per hour. However, recent ads have produced low to average ads of this shower.
How to see the meteor shower
To see the meteors, look to the eastern and southeastern skies late Thursday and Friday morning. Find a place out of the light so your eyes can adjust to the darkness.
Give your eyes 30-45 minutes to adjust to the darkness and take in as much of the sky as possible by lying flat on your back, Space.com says. Meteors can appear anywhere in the sky, and the more sky you see, the better your chance of spotting a shower.
The first known Orionid shower was recorded in China in 288, when “stars fell like rain,” reported Sky and Telescope.