Orionid Meteor Shower Tonight: Brought to You by Halley's Comet

by Jordan Yerman | October 20, 2009 at 01:39 pm
2300 views | 16 Recommendations | 2 comments

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Orion and Orionid Meteor; Best capture of the night

Orion and Orionid Meteor; Best capture of the night

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uploaded by SKnoopables

Earth is passing through space debris left by Halley's Comet, which will causes the Orionid Meteor Shower. The Orionid Meteor Shower will be most visible on the nights of October 21 and 22, though the Earth passes through the Halley's Comet debris trail from October 17-25. So, yes, there's a meteor shower tonight.

The Orionid Meteor Shower gets its name because the meteors appear to emanate from the constellation Orion, though of course they don't actually do so.  Want to watch the Orionid Meteor Shower? Okay. Just pull up a patch of open sky at around 11pm (your time) and watch as up to 25 meteors per hour fall earthwards, burning up in tiny blazes of glory. This works best with as little light pollution as possible.

At its peak before sunrise Wednesday morning, the Orionids shower should produce 20 to 25 meteors an hour—a "relatively decent show," according to astronomer Anita Cochran, of the University of Texas at Austin's McDonald Observatory.
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Rhonda J Mangus

Thanks for this, jordan. I've witnessed one meteor in my life-time - someday I'll share the story.




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JBS

Have been watching for two hours and not one shooting stars.  Disapointment, especially since I'm in an isolated location under perfecty clear skies.

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First Flagged at 2:11 PM, Oct 20, 2009 by smkovalinsky
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