The Orionid meteor shower runs from October 17 to the25th, with the peak coming on the 21st!
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These appear as meteors when they pierce through Earth’s upper atmosphere, and the annual celestial show is known as the Orionid meteor shower.
Astronomy Ireland are encouraging people to look to the heavens on the nights of 21-22 October.
The twin Spring and Fall showers hailing from Halley’s are a product of the geometry of its elliptical orbit: Halley’s Comet spends most of its 75.3 year orbit south of the ecliptic, and only briefly “pops up” northward above the Earth’s orbit for northern hemisphere viewers for a few months around perihelion, which next occurs on July 28th, 2061. Last seen in 1986, Halley’s Comet was seen with the naked eye in Maldives, and it awed Maldivians so much there was wide local media coverage of the comet’s beauty at the time.
It tends to stop around November 2nd.
For the second time in 2015, Venus and Jupiter will engage in a close conjunction, this time separated by just over 1 degree, Venus passing to the southwest (lower right) of Jupiter and shining more than 10 times brighter than the huge gas giant, according to space.com.
Let’s see, I’ll be 90-something next time Halley’s Comet comes ’round next…
“At its peak, the Orionids can display as many as 30 meteors per hour”.
Stargazers are advised to get as far north as possible to escape light pollution from cities.
Why is it called the Orionid meteor shower?
Clear skies will be key to enjoying the whole thing.
No, the Orionid meteor shower is visible with the naked eye.
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Although the meteors can appear in any part of the sky, they seem to emerge from a “radiant” in the constellation of Orion in the east, hence their name.
