Where to Look as Orionid Meteor shower Peaks Friday and Saturday – Remanents of Halleys Comet

While Halley’s Comet may only make a fly-by of the earth every 76 years, the debris left behind, in our solar system, from each pass of Halley, creates an annual meteor shower known as the Orionid meteor shower.

Although not as spectacular as the more well known Perseid meteor shower in August, the Orionid shower does give spectators the chance to see chunks of ice from comet Halley burn up in the earth’s atmosphere.

The peak of the orionid meteor shower will be on October 21st and 22nd, with a frequency of about 1 every 2 minutes during these nights. Best viewing in the United States will be from about 11PM to 4AM, local time.

To watch the orionid meteor shower, skygazers should look up facing the southeast looking in the constellation Orion. Orion is one of the most easily recognized constellations because of the 3 bright start which make up the belt of the constellation.

The last time Halley’s comet passed by the earth was in 1986. It was during its transition near our sun that some of the debis which will be seen broke loose from the comet. As the Earth orbits the sun, we occasionally fly through the trail left by Halley.

Even thought the meteors in the Orionids are traveling at more than 90,000 miles peer hour, they pose little risk to anyone on the ground. Because of their small size, mostly the size of pebbles and grains of sand, the meteors burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere creating what we call ‘shooting stars.’