Orionid Meteor Shower Set To Peak on Thursday, Oct. 22 (LIVE STREAM)
Set your alarms star gazers. One of the most reliable-to-viewers meteor showers is on its way to its maximum visibility on Thursday morning, Oct. 22. The shower should average just about 12 meteors per hour overall, along with an incredible view of many night sky objects, according to ABC News.
The Orionid meteor shower will come into view this week, and it's maximum is set to come into view just before sunrise on the 22nd. The Orionids, a somewhat smaller version of the Perseid meteor showers, fan out from the north of Orion's second-brightest star, Betelgeuse.
With the constellation Orion not visible until after 11:00 p.m., and moonset slated to be around 1:30 a.m., it's likely that very few sights of the Orionids prior to midnight will be possible. However, the shower is set to peak at around 5:00 a.m., when Orion hits its maximum point in the night sky. Star gazers should expect to see 20 to 25 "shooting stars" per hour during the peak times.
Normally, Orionids are fairly dim, and are difficult to see from highly urban areas, so star gazers should look for darker and more secluded places to view the shower.
The Orionids are believed to have originated from Halley's Comet, which has passed the Sun thousands of times, each trip lengthening and distributing it's trail of debris. Earth comes in contact with this trail biannually - once in May for the Eta Aquarids, and once in October for the Orionids. The bits that make up these showers are most likely comprised of lightweight materials form Halley's surface, according to Space.
Along with the Orionids, the "Dog Star" Sirius will be visible in the sky, and the constellations Orion, Gemini, and Taurus, should appear bright. According to NASA, planets Jupiter and Venus will also be able to be viewed. NASA will air a live stream of the shower starting on Oct. 21 at 10:00 p.m.
This year has been an excellent meteor-viewing year, with the Perseids almost coinciding with a new moon in August, and the Geminids set to peak around the Moon's crescent in December, according to Space.
NASA's live stream can be viewed below.
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