Orionids meteor shower hits peak activity this weekend: When and where to watch

Agencies,Washington, Oct. 20: As long as the moon and skies are all treats and no tricks, skygazers should have a chance to see the Orionids, one of the year's most striking meteor showers, just in time for Halloween.

The Orionid meteor shower, courtesy of the famed Halley's Comet, is forecast to reach its peak in a matter of days, when it will send a flurry of bright and fast meteors shooting across the night sky.

The meteors, widely considered by astronomers to produce the most beautiful shower of the year, whizz at about 148,000 mph into Earth's atmosphere at their peak, leaving glowing trains of debris in their wake that can last for several seconds or even multiple minutes, NASA says. 

And if they're fast enough, the meteors could also produce fireballs that appear as prolonged explosions of light.

But spectators eager to catch a glimpse of the spectacle who already have to contend with a bright moon outshining the meteors will also have to rely on clear evening skies, NASA warns.

Here's when and how spectators can give themselves the best chance of witnessing this year's peak Orionids activity.

A meteor of the Orionid Meteor Shower, created by remnants of Halley's Comet, streaks through the night sky in 2019 above the San Rafael Swell outside Green River, Utah

When can you see the Orionid meteor shower?

Though the Orionids are active from Sept. 26 to Nov. 22, the meteors are set to peak in activity Sunday and Monday, according to the American Meteor Society.

The best opportunity to witness streaking meteors on those days are from midnight to dawn, experts say. 

Timeanddate.com offers a detailed schedule for when to see the Orionids.

How to watch the Orionids

Orionid meteors streak as they cross through the Milky Way in October 2021 in the mountainous area of Tannourine in northern Lebanon.

On average, the Orionids produce anywhere from 10 to 20 meteors per hour at their peak in mid-to-late October. An exception came between 2006 and 2009 when the 50 to 75 meteors the Orionids put out per hour were on par with the Perseids. But don't expect that this October.

This year, spectators have to contend with a nearly-full bright waning gibbous moon that will outshine fainter meteors. Still, if 

skygazers are lucky, they may see up to 23 meteors per hour blazing across moonless skies at 41 miles per second in both the Northern and 

Southern Hemispheres, according to NASA.

Named after after Orion because the meteors seem to emerge – or radiate – from the same area in the sky as the constellation, the Orionids are also framed by some of the brightest stars in the night sky.

Despite the meteor shower's namesake, astronomers advise spectators to avoid looking toward the constellation Orion if they want to get the best views. 

The meteors are visible anywhere in the night sky, particularly ‒ if you want to get technical ‒ 45 to 90 degrees away from the radiant, according to NASA.

What causes the Orionid meteor shower?

Meteor showers occur when Earth passes through dusty debris trails left by comets and other space objects as they orbit the sun. The debris – space rocks known as meteoroids – collides with Earth's atmosphere at high speed and disintegrates, creating fiery and colorful streaks in the sky, according to NASA.

Those resulting fireballs, better known as "shooting stars," are meteors. If meteoroids survive their trip to Earth without burning up in the atmosphere, they are called meteorites, NASA says.

The Orionids parent comet is the most famous one of them all: Halley’s Comet.

Halley, which takes about 76 years for each orbit of the sun, won't be seen again by casual observers until 2061 after it was last sighted in 1986.

But despite its rare appearance to us here on Earth, Halley's impact is still felt at least twice a year when we enter its debris path. 

Each time Halley returns to the inner solar system, its nucleus sheds ice and rocky dust into space that eventually becomes not only the Orionids every October, but the Eta Aquarids in May.