A waxing crescent moon lends the celestial stage this week to the Orionid meteor shower — a wash of rock and ice shed from the venerable Halley's Comet.
While the Orionid shower runs from Oct. 2 to Nov. 7 this year, the heavenly theatrics will be most robust in the predawn hours of Saturday when the greatest number of meteors are expected to slip into Earth's atmosphere.
With the moon just past new Saturday, there will be no lunar interference. During the peak, 10 to 20 Orionids per hour should be visible.
Deborah Byrd, editor in chief at the astronomy website Earth and Sky, said that while Saturday is the shower’s peak, meteors are likely to be firing from Friday morning through early November.
“The Orionids are known to be fast and on the faint side, but can sometimes surprise you with an exceptionally bright meteor that might break up into fragments,” Byrd wrote in her blog. “Maybe half of the Orionid meteors leave persistent trains — ionized gas trails that last for a few seconds after the meteor itself has gone.”
The Orionids are the only well-recognized major shower that happens twice a year. In May, the Earth again runs through the detritus of Halley’s Comet, creating the Eta Aquariid meteor shower.
Halley’s Comet was discovered by Edmund Halley in 1705, but is believed to have been recognized for millennia.
The comet returns every 72 years and was last seen from Earth in 1986. It won’t come again until 2061.
The Orionids are named for the celestial hunter Orion, which is easy to spot in the night sky by its bright belt of three aligned stars. Orion is the namesake because the meteors appear to radiate from north of Betelgeuse, one of the constellation’s most well-known stars.
You don’t have to stare at Orion to see a meteor; they will be visible in all parts of the sky.
If it looks like the Orionids will be clouded out, the website Slooh.com is aiming its telescopes at the sky Friday beginning at 7:59 p.m. in a live hunt for meteors. The show requires registration, so arrive early if not already a member.
"The annual Orionids meteor shower is not considered the showiest of meteor showers, but it is generally a reliable one," the site advertises.
Credit: Getty Images
Credit: Getty Images
About the Author
