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Orionid meteor shower peaks this week

It’s time for the Orionid meteor shower again. It appears every year in October when the Earth travels through the debris from Halley’s Comet.

This year the peak will occur on the night of Wednesday, 21 October into the morning of Thursday, 22 October.

“The Orionids will probably show weaker activity than usual this year,” says Bill Cooke of the NASA Meteoroid Environments Office at Marshall Space Flight Center.

“Bits of comet dust hitting the atmosphere will probably give us about a dozen meteors per hour.”

The best time to look for Orionid meteors is just before sunrise on Thursday when Earth hits the densest part of Halley’s debris.

Bill Condie

Bill Condie

Bill Condie is a science journalist based in Adelaide, Australia.

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