Orionids Meteor Shower - October 21st

The Orionids Meteor Shower is just a few days away! They are expected to peak on October 21st during the pre-dawn hours. The best time to get out and view a meteor shower is around midnight or during the pre-dawn hours. However, you can check the sky several nights before or after the peak prediction time, and you may still see a few Orionids.

There is going to be a problem this year though, and that is the moon. It will be at about a waning half moon, on its way to a new moon during this time frame. This means that a good portion of the eastern sky will be washed out in moonlight. On the evening of the 20th the moon should rise right around midnight. So just when the sky is naturally getting dark after sunset, the moon is going to show up. Still it may be worth it to head on out to see if you can catch a few of the brighter shooting stars. The Orionids Meteor Shower generally puts out about 25 meteors per hour.

Since we are heading into the fall season be sure to bring an extra blanket along. It will be a little chilly. Here in West Virginia the weather is looking good for the next Tuesday night and Wednesday morning timeframe. I am planning on at least spending a little time outside to check the Orionids out.

In interesting fact about the Orionids Meteor Shower is that they are caused by dust particles left over from the famous Halley's Comet. Each year the earth passes through the trail of dust that is left by the Halley's comet.