Orionid Meteor Shower To Peak On October 20-21. Here's How And When To Watch It

October¡¯s sky is a delight for stargazers, with Mars reaching its maximum brightness in 15 years and other planets visible in the sky as well. The Orionid meteor shower is also set to peak later this month; it is already visible.

The Orionids are bits of dust and debris left behind from Comet Halley on its previous trips through the inner solar system. Every year our planet drifts through the cloud of comet debris around this time of the year and all the dust collides with our upper atmosphere and burns up in a display we see as ¡®shooting stars¡¯, and sometimes even as fireballs.

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Given the amount of visible meteors during its active period, the Orionids are considered a major meteor shower that can be seen from the first week of October to the first week of November.

American Meteor Society forecasts that the peak of the shower might be on October 20-21 where the number of meteors visible could increase to 20 per hour.

The Orionids enter our atmosphere at an extremely fast velocity of roughly 147,000 miles per hour (66 kilometers per second). However, a fair amount of these meteors leave persistent trails that last for a few seconds, according to CNET.

The Orionids can be seen from both the Northern and Southern Hemisphere of the Earth. According to NASA, for those in the Northern Hemisphere, their feet should face southeast while viewing the shower.

Also Read: An 'Especially' Bright Meteorite Was Observed Over Mexico As It Lit Up The Skies

Representational Image/NASA

Like to watch any other celestial event the advice is to find a place away from light pollution; a dark spot with as wide a view of the sky as possible. Give your eyes time to adapt to the darkness, be patient, within 30 minutes, if the sky is clear, you might see meteors.

While you do not require to focus on any particular part of the sky, the Orionids are named so because their trails appear to originate from the same general area of the sky as the constellation Orion and the bright star Betelgeuse.

Also Read: A 'Fireball' That Lit Up The Skies In Ohio Was Actually A Meteor

Representational Image/Rafael Schmall

The best time to look for the Orionids in 2020 is the early morning hours before dawn on October 21. However, if you miss that, do not be disheartened because this shower is known for an extended peak, so you should have a good chance of seeing some meteors if you get up early a few days before or after that peak date as well.

The lack of moon in the sky in the early viewing hours might also make the viewing easier.

More information about visiblity of the meteor shower in India can be found here.