Orionids meteor shower peaks tonight with 25 fireballs per hour

Stargazers are in for a celestial treat as the annual Orionid meteor shower reaches its peak overnight, offering a dazzling display of up to 25 meteors per hour streaking across the moonless sky.

What are Orionids?

One of the most dependable annual showers, which are associated with spectacular fireballs, or the most brilliant meteors, are the Orionids, which may leave brilliant, lingering streaks behind them. The Royal Greenwich Observatory states that these meteors were swift, vaporising in the Earth's atmosphere at an astounding 41 miles per second.

The Halley Comet

It is a stellar burst of the most renowned comet of the universe: the Halley Comet. Over the course of the comet's 75 year orbit around the inner solar system, it deposits a trail of dusty rubble. Every October, our planet Earth passes through this stream of meteorites that burst when they hit our atmosphere, producing meteor shower. The May 2011 Eta Aquariids, as well, are the result of debris from Halley.

How to watch Orionids meteor shower?

Although the shower is visible worldwide, dark-sky areas without city lights are likely to be the best places to see it. The meteors seem to shine out of the constellation of Orion, in the vicinity of the star Betelgeuse, but it is possible to observe them anywhere in the sky. To be best, they suggest facing the southeastern sky overnight and allowing your eyes a minimum of 20 minutes to adapt to the darkness.

The culmination, which comes on the night of October 21, into the first hours of the 22d, is timed to the minute with a new moon, giving utterly clear skies and which will render visible all the faintest meteors. The shower starts October 2 and continues through November 22, although it is most active tonight.