It’s time to get out the coffee or hot chocolate and blanket. Another slew of shooting stars is in your forecast.
Orion and Orionid meteor by Mike Lewinski
WHEN is it?
Technically this shower peaks on the 22nd but you should be able to see it from now until then! It is visible after midnight when the bright moon sets and has the most meteors just before sunrise. Good news for you early birds out there…that I am not.
WHERE should you look?
So the constellation these are close to is Orion, hence the name. They are closest, however, to Orion’s star Betelgeuse which is pretty easy to find in the sky. It is the reddish star that is Orion’s shoulder/armpit. However, if you aren’t that familiar with the sky don’t worry; you can use an app (like the one I suggested).
Pick a star in the constellation and use the app to figure out where the constellation is. You can even figure out when it rises and sets. If you use the app I do, make sure you turn on sky object trajectories and use that as a guide for where the star (or constellation) will be at what time. It should be on automatically but in case it is not, it is the button on the upper right of the settings (as shown on the right).
WHAT are the meteors made of?
These meteors are actually made from our beloved Halley’s comet. They are the remnants of dust and debris that the sun burned off the comet and thus were left in the Earth’s orbit.
NEXT ON THE LINEUP: Okay well November is actually packed with meteor showers starting November 2nd so I will probably do a master post on all of them!
Happy Observing!!
