Although we mostly talk about it in the summer, there are beautiful shooting star showers in the sky all year round. To observe them, all you have to do is raise your head. The latter include the Orionids, whose show takes place every October – exactly between October 2nd and November 7th. According to NASA, they are among the most notable of the year.
Their next highlight of activity is scheduled for Sunday, October 22nd. Ten to twenty meteors per hour are expected this weekend. But be careful, you have to be focused because although the Orionids are known for their high brightness, they are also particularly fast, reaching a speed of around 66 kilometers per second!
But where do they actually come from? This meteor shower comes from the most famous periodic comet: Halley’s Comet (1P/Halley), identified as such in 1705 by the English astronomer and physicist Edmond Halley. Each time it enters the inner solar system about every 76 years – its last appearance dates back to 1986 and the next is expected in 2061 – it drops ice and rocks in its wake.
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However, as the Earth moves in its orbit around the Sun, it crosses its orbit during the same period every year. Then some of these fragments enter the atmosphere, where they burn up and form the glowing trails […] Read more