Moonlight could obstruct view of Orionid meteor shower, debris from Halley’s Comet

WASHINGTON – The Orionids – one of two annual meteor showers from Halley’s Comet – peak early Monday. A bright waning moon can make them difficult to spot.

The Orionid meteor shower can be unpredictable. Some years it shines like fireworks, but other years it is quite slow.

This highly variable shower can produce between 20 and 60 visible meteors per hour under ideal viewing conditions, said NASA’s Bill Cooke.

This year’s peak activity occurs on a night when the waning moon is 83% full. The shower lasts until November 22.

Here’s what you need to know about Orionids and other meteor showers.

What is a meteor shower?

Several meteor showers occur each year and you don’t need special equipment to see them.

Most meteor showers come from comet debris. The source of the Orionids is Halley’s comet.

When rocks from space enter Earth’s atmosphere, air resistance makes them very hot. This causes the air around them to glow and briefly leaves a fiery tail behind them – the end of a “shooting star”.

Bright air pockets around fast-moving space rocks, ranging from the size of a dust particle to a boulder, can be visible in the night sky.

“Halley’s Comet doesn’t leave the same number of particles behind it every year,” making it difficult to predict what kind of show viewers will see, Cooke said.

How to observe a meteor shower

Meteor showers are usually most visible between midnight and before dawn.

It’s easier to see shooting stars under dark skies, away from city lights. Meteor showers also appear brightest on cloudless nights, when the moon is waning the most.

And your eyes will be better suited to seeing meteors if you don’t check your phone. “It ruins your night vision,” Cooke said.

When will the next meteor shower occur?

October was an active period for celestial observations, including the last supermoon and comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas.

The Meteor Society maintains an up-to-date list of upcoming major meteor showers, including peak viewing days and moonlight conditions.

The next major meteor shower is the Southern Taurids meteor shower, which peaks in early November.

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