Orionid Meteor Shower Peaks; Taurids Also Flying Over Illinois

ILLINOIS — If meteor showers are your thing, get up early the next few mornings to catch a glimpse of the Orionid meteor shower as it builds toward its Friday morning peak.

That’s weather permitting, of course.

Thursday night is partly cloudy, with a low around 42 degrees. Friday and Saturday nights will be mostly clear, and Sunday night could bring cloudy skies and showers.

The thin, crescent moon will leave mostly dark skies for the peak, when about 20 shooting stars an hour fly in typical years. The meteors are fast-moving and occasionally produce bright fireballs and leave persistent trains.

So-named because meteors radiate from the same area of the sky as the Orion constellation, the Orionids are produced by debris from the famous Halley’s Comet.

The hours between midnight and dawn are the best time to see the Orionids. Take along a camera. Report a fireball — a very bright meteor — to the American Meteor Society.

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The Orionid meteor shower, which started Sunday and continues through Nov. 7, intersecting with the long-running Taurid meteor showers that rambles along through late summer and most of the fall. The Taurids are actually two separate meteor showers coming from two separate streams — the first created by grain dust left behind by Asteroid 2004/TG10, and the second by debris left behind by Comet 2P/Encke. It runs through Dec. 10.

The best times to see Taurids are late October and early November, when the two streams overlap. The South Taurids peak around Nov. 5; the North Taurids peak around Nov. 12.

Occasionally, the Taurids create a “swarm” with numerous bright fireballs. The last one was in 2015. In normal years, though, they produce about five or 10 shooting stars an hour. Like most meteor showers, this is best viewed after midnight.

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