Amateur astronomers are being promised a celestial treat tonight when the Earth ploughs through a stream of dust left by Halley’s Comet. A spectacular display of natural fireworks, called the Orionid meteor shower, will produces many bright shooting stars easy to spot with the naked eye.
Earth crosses the meteors’ orbit every October. But this year’s shower – which is already active and will continue to produce some meteors for a few days after the maximum night of 20/21 October – could be particularly good for two reasons.
First, it is just three days after new moon, meaning there will be no bright moonlight to drown out the meteors.
But research by Japanese meteor scientists Mikiya Sato and Jun-ichi Watanabe shows that numbers will be higher too because the Earth will run into filaments of meteoroid particles ejected by the comet in 1400 BC and 11 BC. These regions are expected to be rich in bright meteors and a single observer may see up to 30 an hour.
The meteors are called the Orionids because they appear to stream into the atmosphere from a point near the bright star Betelgeuse in the constellation of Orion the hunter. But they can flash into view anywhere in the sky.
Robin Scagell, of the UK’s Society for Popular Astronomy, said yesterday: “The Orionids are one of the strongest meteor displays of the year and will be best seen later in the night as Orion rises higher in the sky.
“You don’t need any special equipment to see them. Just wrap up warm and sit in a deckchair away from bright lights and wait!”
• Discover space for yourself and do fun science with a telescope. Here is Skymania’s advice on how to choose a telescope. We also have a guide to the different types of telescope available.