Orionid Meteor Shower: How To View The Orionids And Live Stream Of October’s Stargazing Event
The Orionid meteor shower may have lost some of its luster due to the full moon on Friday but it is still putting on a shower and there are several ways to view the Orionids.
Oct. 21 is the second day of the Orionids peak and the best time to catch a few streaking meteors, or a fireball, is after midnight or in the pre-dawn hours, reports Los Angeles Times. The Orionid meteor show occurs each October as Earth passes through the stream of debris left by Comet Halley. While the Orionids do not feature the frequency of meteors as the summer’s Perseid meteor shower, stargazers will not be disappointed as they may be plenty of fast moving meteors, known as fireballs.
According to NASA, the Orionids peak at a frequency of 20 meteors per hour and the meteor shower can be viewed in the Northern and Southern hemispheres. Friday’s full moon, the Hunter’s moon, put a damper on weekend viewing, due to the added light of the waning moon, but the Orionids peaked on Monday and continues on Tuesday. For those in the city, NASA estimates seeing maybe one or two meteors per hour during the meteor shower’s peak.
For any meteor shower, the best practice is to get as far away from the city as possible. After that it’s a matter of lying down and looking at the sky. According to NASA, the Orionids radiant, or the apparent point of origin, is “Just to the north of constellation Orion's bright star Betelgeuse.” In the northern hemisphere, viewers should look southeast while viewers in the southern hemisphere should look northeast to view some shooting stars.
For those that cannot escape the city, there is a live stream that can be viewed below.
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