Orionid Meteor Shower to Peak Before Dawn on Oct. 22
The Orionid meteor shower is expected to peak overnight Oct. 21-22, with the best viewing opportunity coming in the hours before dawn after the moon sets.
The shower occurs as Earth passes through debris left by Comet 1P/Halley. As the particles enter the atmosphere, they produce fast-moving streaks of light. NASA estimates that 10 to 20 meteors per hour may be visible under ideal dark-sky conditions, according to Space.com.
A waxing gibbous moon, four days from full, is expected to obscure some of the fainter meteors earlier in the night. Viewing should improve after moonset, when the shower’s radiant—the point from which its meteors appear to emerge—climbs higher in the sky near Betelgeuse in the constellation Orion.
Observers do not need to look directly at Orion. Meteors seen 45 to 90 degrees away from the radiant may leave longer trails. Viewers should seek a dark location away from …