Orionid Meteor Shower Tonight
October 21st, 2009 | by |
The Orionid meteor shower tonight should be beautiful. It is the second of two metero showers that occur each year as a result of Earth passing through debris released by Halley’s Comet. Tonight the sky will be moonless, providing stargazers with a excellent chance for a good view of the display.
The Orionids are named because the meteor shower will appear to radiate from near the constellation Orion, the Hunter. The meteor shower tonight will produce from 20-25 meteors per hour.
The best viewing times for the meteor shower tonight bill be from 1 AM until dawn local time Wednesday morning. Fortunately for all, that’s regardless of the viewer’s location.
In terms of the location in the night sky, despite the fact that the meteor showier tonight will emerge from the constellation of Orion, you don’t need to be that exact. Just look up. At the peak time of the shower the earth will be moving through the field of meteors, so it should be visible anywhere in the sky, essentially.
Halley’s Comet, whose dust provides the dust for the Orionid meteor shower tonight, loops through the inner solar system every 76 years. Because of its regularity, it is the most famous of the periodic comets. Halley’s Comet last appeared in the inner Solar System in 1986, and will next appear in mid-2061.
Tags: meteor shower, meteor shower 2009, meteor shower october 2009, meteor shower tonight, orionid meteor shower, orionid meteor shower 2009
