October is a special month for astronomers, as the Earth passes in front of a tail of three different comets. Among them is Halley’s Comet, whose presence close to our planet results in the Orionid meteor shower. This is a unique phenomenon, as the meteorites appear as if they were emanating from the north through the second brightest star in the Orion constellation –Betelgeuse–.
The meteor shower is taking its highest peak, right on the night of October 20 and the early morning of October 21. On this night you can see more than 20 meteorites per hour making a luminous walkway across the Earth. These stars are actually remnants of the nucleus of Halley’s Comet which orbits the Sun every 76 years; which, by the way, also have the ability to see themselves as fireballs a few seconds before disappearing.
To see this shower of stars, it is necessary, first of all, to find the Orion constellation in the sky – and this, in turn, finding Orion’s belt. Find three stars in the sky that are far enough apart from each other in a straight line.
To see the peak of the rain it is advisable to do so from 12:31 a.m. to 5:59 a.m., from October 20 to October 21.
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