October 2019

by Matthew Johnson

The Orionid meteor shower, which occurs every year in October, will reach its peak on the nights of Oct. 21 and 22. The debris that streaks through the night sky as the Orionid meteors was left in the trail of Halley’s Comet, whose path earth will start to cross in early October and leave behind on Nov. 7. Meteors can be seen on any night during that period, but a good time to step outside with a warm jacket and a comfortable chair is on the nights when the shower reaches its zenithal hourly rate, predicted for this year at 20 meteors per hour. Although the meteors can be seen in any part of the sky, the point from which they radiate, known as the radiant, is near the constellation of Orion, which is just stating to rise around 11:30 at night in the late October sky. There will be a moon on the nights of Oct. 21 and 22, which will set an hour or two before morning twilight begins. That will be the very best time to see the Orionid shower.