Orionid meteor shower

Oct. 19, 2023

The Orionid meteor shower is expected to rain down its greatest number of meteors on the mornings of October 21 and 22.

About Orionid meteor shower:

  • It is an annual phenomenon that lights up the night sky every October.
  • It is produced when Earth passes through the debris left behind by Halley's Comet, officially known as 1P/Halley.
  • This comet, which orbits the sun approximately every 76 years, expels dust particles from its nucleus, creating a trail of debris in its path.
  • Each year, our planet intercepts this path in late October, resulting in the Orionid meteor shower.
  • Halley's Comet, measuring about five by nine miles in size, loses between three to ten feet of material on each passage through the inner solar system.
  • The Orionids are viewable in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres during the hours after midnight. 

What is a meteor?

  • When meteoroids enter Earth’s atmosphere at high speed and burn up, the fireballs or “shooting stars” are called meteors.
  • Meteor showers occur annually or at regular intervals as the Earth passes through the trail of dusty debris left by a comet.
  • Meteor showers are usually named after a star or constellation that is close to where the meteors appear in the sky.