One of the best meteor showers of autumn has peaked in the coming nights, giving the skycars a great chance to spot the shooting stars long, but ahead of a winter night, right around the corner.
The annual Orionid meteor shower will reach its peak by the early hours of Wednesday morning, featuring about 20 meteors per hour in most parts of the world. Every minute this meteor comes to average.
The Orionids are a medium-power fountain that sometimes reaches high-power activity, the American Meteorological Society (AMS) said.
Although there is a possibility of only two dozen meteors per hour, there is a possibility that showing Orionids this year could exceed expectations.
NASA said there is some evidence that a larger-than-normal peak could occur sometime between 2020 and 2022.
It is not clear how many meteors per hour translate this, but between 2006 and 2009, which were exceptional years for Orionids, observers counted 50-75 meteors per hour, according to AMS. Despite this opportunity, viewers should overcome expectations of an outbreak like this as meteor showers are difficult to predict.
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Meteor showers occur when the Earth passes through a debris field left behind by a comet. The debris is very small, about the size of a grain of sand, but burns with intensity as it enters the Earth’s atmosphere.
The comet responsible for the annual Orionids is one of the most famous comets: Haley’s comet.
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Haley’s comets play two meteor showers each year, Eta Aquarius in early May and Orionids in mid-October, even though they pass through the inner solar system once every 75 years.
When this meteor shower is caused by Haley’s comet, it is named after Orion because the shooting star will be seen moving from a point in the sky right next to the constellation.
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| The brightest point for the Orionid meteor shower is next to the constellation Orion, which will rise in the southeastern sky around midnight local time. |
Like many meteor showers, the best time to see Orionids would be after midnight as the cheerful point rises and the sky rises day by day and the day breaks.
This year will be a particularly good year for the Orionids as the crescent moon will be arranged before a cheerful point rises in the south-east sky.
When the moon is above the horizon, it causes natural light pollution which reduces the overall number of shooting stars that are visible to the naked eye.
Light pollution from nearby cities and highways can still be the issue of moonless nights and is the second most disruptive factor for stargazing after the weather.
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This year’s presentation of the Orionids will be best seen from the southwestern and south-central parts of the U.S. where mainly clear conditions are forecast. Some residents of the southeastern U.S. will also have favorable weather for a fountain peak night.
Clouds will be a concern for people heading to the Midwest, Nantario, southern Quebec and northern New England as a disturbance track in the region. There are also poor viewing conditions in the Pacific Northwest and western parts of Canada.
The rest of the continent will have some clouds to deal with, but there may be enough breaks in the clouds that some meteors may appear on Peak Night.
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Where it’s clear, viewers want to bundle up until a cool October night, but getting off the road will be just a taste of the weather.
Orionides, in most parts of North America, will be the last moderate meteor shower before frozen winter conditions land, making it impossible for some stargazers to spend a night under the stars. Fair-weather stargazers may have to wait until April or May for the next chance to see a light night meteor shower.
After Orionides, the next meteor shower on the calendar calendar is Leonids, which falls on the night of November 16th. Peaks at 17, followed by the much-anticipated Geminids in the second week of December.
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