The Orionid meteor shower is upon us!
The event is known
for the brightness and speed of its meteors. According to NASA, it's one
of the most beautiful meteor showers of the year. At its peak and under
ideal conditions, the shower is expected to produce about 20 visible meteors per hour. The
shower is named after the Orion constellation because the meteors appear
to radiate from that point in the sky. In fact, its meteors are visible
across the night sky. The real source of the meteors is comet
1P/Halley, aka Halley's Comet. When Earth's atmosphere passes through
Halley's dust trail, the dust disintegrates and voila! A meteor appears.
Each October, Halley's comet and Earth go through this
same song and dance to create the Orionids. In that way, the Orionid
meteor shower is a kind of like a treat to tide over Earthlings between
full viewings of Halley's comet, which only happens roughly every 76
years. (Fun fact: When this same sequence of events happens in May, the
shower is called the Eta Aquarids.)
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