The Orionid meteor shower, which is capable of producing bright fireball meteors, is set to peak in UK skies this week. While it has been active for most of October, the celestial spectacle will be at its best in the early hours of October 22. Clear skies permitting, skygazers could be able to spot as many as 10-20 meteors per hour.
Where the weather is less cooperative, there will still be chances to catch a glimpse of the shower until 7 November. The Orionids are an annual meteor shower caused by debris left by Halley's comet in its journey around the Sun. Every year, Earth passes through the comet dust and the debris burns with the friction caused by the atmosphere, creating a bright streak of light through the sky.
The Orionids are fast and bright, entering our atmosphere with speeds of around 41 miles per second. They can often produce long glowing trails and fireballs. To spot them, find a dark spot with wide open skies, away from city light pollution and let your eyes adjust to the night sky for 20 minutes.
The meteors are visible to the naked eye so you won't need any specialist equipment like binoculars or a telescope. The meteors will appear to originate from the constellation of Orion, near the red supergiant star Betelgeuse. This is known as the radiant.
Between midnight and dawn the constellation will climb higher in the sky to the south and then the south-west. It is best to view the meteors slightly away from the radiant as they will be more visible. Unfortunately, the Moon will be in the waxing gibbous phase on the night of the 21 October, throwing extra light into the night sky and reducing visibility.
However, conditions will improve once the Moon sets around on Thursday morning. Meteor showers are best seen in cloudless skies. Unfortunately for skywatchers, this week looks to be the wettest and windiest week so far this autumn with a strengthening jet stream propelling low pressure systems across the UK.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
