The‘Most Beautiful’ Fast And Bright Orionid Meteor Shower Nears Peak

One of the year’s most dazzling shooting star shows, the Orionid meteor shower, will peak Sunday and Monday, giving stargazers another reason to get outside and look up at the sky during a particularly active month for celestial sensations.

The Orionid meteor shower, which continues through Nov. 22, usually produces only about 23 meteors an hour at its peak, but NASA nevertheless calls it one of the “most beautiful” shooting star shows of the year.

Unfortunately, October’s big, bright supermoon will still be about 80 percent illuminated, which may make it difficult to see all but the brightest meteors — and this shower reliably produces some of the brightest and fastest of any shooting star show.

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The bright orb is also making it harder to see the so-called “comet of the century.” Comet C/2023A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS is especially prominent near the western horizon of the evening sky over the next few days, but is becoming harder to see as it heads away from Earth.

NASA’s Bill Cooke told The Associated Press in an email the bright moonlight will wash out some of the comet’s tail, but said it’s still worth getting outside to see.

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And, if the moon turns an Orionid meteor shower into a bust, there are multiple chances through the end of the year to see shooting stars.

Orionid meteors do have a decent chance against the bright moon. These fast, bright shooting stars enter Earth’s atmosphere a blazing 148,000 miles per hour. Meteors that fast can leave glowing trains — that is, incandescent bits of debris that can last several seconds or even minutes — and also fireballs.

This shower is best viewed between the hours of midnight and dawn.

The Taurid meteor shower is also underway. What makes the long-running Taurid meteor shower unique is that it consists of two separate streams — the first created by grain dust left behind by Asteroid 2004/TG10, and the second by dust grains left behind by Comet 2P/Encke.

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Together, they run from about Sept. 28-Dec 2. Neither the Southern nor the Northern Taurids produce much more than five meteors an hour, but both streams are rich in fireballs and are often responsible for increased numbers of fireball reports, according to the American Meteor Society.

The moon will be about 11 percent full for the Southern Taurids’ Nov. 4-5 peak, and about 79 percent full for the Nov. 11-12 peak of the Northern Taurids.

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