Orionid Meteor Shower

An Orionid Meteor, form an image by TheBrockenInaGlory,
licensed under the Creative Commons.

If you are an early riser, or are keen enough to set your alarm and drag yourself outside in the early hours of the morning, start preparing yourself to see the Orionid Meteor Shower. The Orionids are the most intense meteor shower associated with Haley's Comet. While the comet is well on its outward bound journey, not due to return until 2061, debris from the comet has spread widely along its orbit. So every October, when the Earth's orbit intersects with the debris field of the comet, we are teated to a fabulous meteor shower.

The peak of the shower will occur in the wee hours of Sunday morning, October 22. But you can expect an increased number of meteors for several days before and after the peak. The radiant of the shower (the point in the sky where the meteors appear to originate) is in the familiar and easy to spot constellation of Orion. Hence the name "Orionids". At its peak, the shower should produce up to about 25 meteors per hour.

This is very much a naked eye event. The odds of pointing a telescope or binoculars in the right direction is very small. So just find a spot with dark skys, face west, look up, relax, and take in the show.