The Orionid Meteor Shower is a wonderful natural phenomenon. what happens when the Earth crosses the trail of particles left by comets and that we can see between October 4 and November 14, the best night to enjoy them being October 21.
This Orionid meteor shower comes from the Halley that happens every 76 years. Its name comes from the constellation Orion and can be seen anywhere in the world every year.. While it’s not the strongest meteor shower, it’s one of the most beautiful, according to NASA Meteorites Bureau Chief Bill Crooke.
The so-called «shooting stars» that make up this particular shower are small dust particles, some smaller than the grains of sand that are left over from comets or asteroids along their orbits around the Sun. The cloud of these tiny particles product of the melting produced by the solar heat, it is dispersed by the orbit of the comet and crosses our planet in its orbit around the Sun. When it disintegrates when entering the Earth’s atmosphere, the meteors that we can appreciate are produced.
To be able to enjoy this astronomical phenomenon it should only be located in an open place, without light pollution and preferably between midnight and dawn. It does not require any type of special instrument to view it, since they are visible to the naked eye and you just have to adopt a comfortable position that allows you to enjoy this spectacle in the sky.
To locate the constellation of Orion in the sky, just look for three aligned stars with almost the same brightness, called «the three Marys» since they are in the center of the constellation. If you want to see the entire trajectory, point your eyes at the radiant and then at 90 degrees to it so you can enjoy the meteors in all their splendor.
The most comfortable and recommended positions to see the meteor shower is in a beach chair, a sleeping bag or a chair with an inclined backrest.. Locate yourself looking at the constellation of Orion, which is the area where you can see the most meteorites. Keep in mind that it takes your eyes about half an hour to adjust to the dark, so the more time you spend looking at the sky, the more chances you have of seeing a meteor.
If the sky is clear you can enjoy up to twenty meteorites per hour, at a speed of 66 km/s, crossing the sky in a majestic way, with yellow or green colors. It is a wonderful show that you can enjoy only once a year and anywhere in the world with a good level of perception.
This year, the moon will be in its crescent phase when the best night for viewing the Orionid meteor shower occurs on October 21, therefore the luminosity it gives off can affect the total visualization of the tiny particles, since they can be seen best when the moon is in its waning phase.