Heads up, stargazers: The annual Orionid meteor showers are expected to peak this week, with NASA reporting that activity will be at its highest point during the evening of Wednesday, Oct. 21 through the early morning hours of Thursday, Oct. 22.
The Orionids, which are the result of the Earth’s orbit taking it through a region of space littered with debris from Halley’s Comet, typically peak between Oct. 20 and Oct. 22 every year, according to Weather.com. Pieces of debris from the comet appear in the atmosphere, putting on a show before disintegrating.
Unfortunately, projections are that the meteor shower won’t be much of a spectacle in 2015, as Bill Cooke of the NASA Meteoroid Environments Office is calling for weak activity with probably only a dozen meteors per hour when viewing conditions are ideal.
According to The Guardian, the Orionids (which are named after the constellation Orion) are a modest shower that typically produce between 10 and 20 meteors per hour, each of which will be traveling at a blistering 41 miles per second. At those speeds, about half of them will leave a gas trail behind them that will be visible for a few seconds are the meteor disappears.
When, where, and how to watch!
NASA points out that the best time to see the Orionid meteors this year will be just before the sun rises on Thursday, when the Earth comes in contact with the densest part of Halley’s debris stream. Viewing conditions are described as favorable this year, with the light from the gibbous moon setting by around 2am EDT, enabling us watchers to get a good look.
Even though the activity will be moderate at best, stargazers shouldn’t need a telescope. For those unable to see the meteor shower for any reason, there will be a live Ustream broadcast from the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama starting at 10pm EDT on Oct. 21. If conditions are ideal, the Orionids may be visible on the feed as early as 11:30pm EDT, but again, the pre-dawn hours will contain the most activity.
“The display will be framed by some of the prettiest stars in the night sky,” NASA said. “In addition to Orionids, you’ll see the Dog Star Sirius, bright winter constellations such as Orion, Gemini, and Taurus, and the planets Jupiter and Venus. Even if the shower is a dud, the rest of the sky is dynamite. Set your alarm, brew some hot chocolate and enjoy the show!”
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Feature Image: Mike Lewinski/Flickr
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