Stargazers around the world will – weather permitting – be treated to a stunning annual astronomical display, in the form of the Orionid meteor shower. The Orionids have been happening all October but will peak this Monday night. The Orionids will provide photographers and amateur astronomers alike with the ideal opportunity to witness a shooting star or two.
How to live stream the Orionids peak:
Those who are prepared to brave the cold of the autumnal air can be rewarded for their efforts by catching up to 20 meteors per hour during Monday night’s peak.
This means there is a very good chance you will get to see an Orionid yourself.
However, many people will miss-out on watching the shooting star show in person.
Despite this, there are fortunately live streams available, with cameras trained on the night sky, allowing people to view the cosmic show from the comfort go their own home.
The Zakitisfyer YouTube channel is based in the Philippines, which is seven hours ahead of BST, meaning it is in the middle of the night.
This is one of the few meteor showers that is visible in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, so you definitely don’t want to miss it.
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Orionids 2019 viewing tips:
The Orionids are viewable in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres during the hours after midnight.
Those prepared to experience the phenomena first hand should seek an area well away from ambient light.
Come prepared with a lawn chair and sleeping bag or thick blanket.
Stargazers in the Northern Hemisphere should lie on their back with feet facing southeast, or northeast if they are in the Southern Hemisphere, and look up, taking in as much of the sky as possible.
Your eyes will adapt after approximately less than 30 minutes in the dark, meaning you will begin to see meteors.
It is advised to be patient as the show will last until dawn, meaning you will have plenty of time to catch a glimpse of an Orionid.
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Where do meteors originate?
Meteors are leftover comet particles and fragments of broken asteroids.
As comets pass by the sun, the debris they emit gradually forms a dusty trail around their orbits.
Every year the Earth passes through this cosmic debris, meaning these bits collide with the planet’s atmosphere where they disintegrate to create stunning fiery streaks in the sky.
The pieces of space debris that interact with our atmosphere to create the Orionids originate from comet 1P/Halley.
Each time that Halley’s Comet returns to the inner Solar System, its nucleus loses ice and rock dust into the vacuum of space.
These dust grains eventually become the Orionids in October and the Eta Aquarids in May as they incinerate in Earth’s atmosphere.
Halley’s Comet takes approximately 76 years to orbit the Sun.
The last time comet Halley was spotted by stargazers was 1986.
Halley will not enter the inner Solar System again until 2061.
The comet is named for Edmond Halley, who discovered in 1705 that three previous comets seemed to return every 76 years or so and posited these sightings were actually one and the the same.
The comet returned as he predicted (after his death) and it was named in Halley’s honour.
Comet Halley is most likely the most famous comet of all-time, as it it has been sighted for millennia.
The comet featured on the Bayeux tapestry chronicling the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
Comet Halley’s dimensions are 10 x 5 x5 miles (16 x 8 x 8km) and is one of the least reflective, objects in the Solar System.
