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Looking for a fun thing to do this weekend? How about looking up! The meteorite shower Orionid peaks over the next few days, dropping from 15 to 20 meteors per hour under a dark, clear sky.
This year's show will be a little harder to capture, thanks to a growing and gibbous moon. This will overshadow a lot of weaker meteors, but with a little patience, you will still have a good chance of catching shooting stars. The display will begin to fade from here on Sunday.
In the nation's capital, Saturday morning before sunrise is perhaps the best time to watch – after the moon goes down at 3:05 am and before the sky lights up before sunrise Sun. However, clouds and showers of a cold front can spoil the show. The weather may be a problem on the east coast of the Midwest, but the Rockies will appreciate perfect star conditions.
The best viewing will take place after midnight and before the local sunrise, when the constellation Orion will be high in the southeast sky. Even if the meteors seem to emit from this point, it is not necessary to look at the same place. There will be an even distribution of shooting stars in the sky.
In fact, it is better not to look only at the radiant. This is because the meteors coming from this direction hit the atmosphere almost abruptly and seem to have shorter, weaker tails. Those who leave the best and longest strip of colors are those who cross the atmosphere at an angle. The secret is to find a dark area away from the lights of the city and give yourself enough time for your eyes to adjust.
Meteor shower occurs when the Earth crosses a stream of debris left behind by a comet, an asteroid or another piece of scrap metal flying in space. When our planet passes through them, they find themselves trapped in our gravitational field and burn in the upper atmosphere. It's like insects splashing the windshield of your car on a hot summer day: they leave a trail of color in the place where they hit.
When it comes to a shooting star, this trail of light comes from metal compounds in the rock-space vaporizing. The friction the meteor encounters due to the high air drag in the sky generates a tremendous amount of heat, and POOF! The debris disappears and burns under a flash of colored light.
But where does it come from this do the debris come? In the case of the Orionids, the answer could make you think of 1986: Halley's comet.
Coming back every 76 years, Halley's comet made its last appearance when Reagan was at the White House, the average cost of a new house was $ 89,430 and Oprah Winfrey was making her debut in the first episode of her hit show. The comet will not be back until 2061. But even if Halley's comet is gone, it's certainly not forgotten.
This reminds us every spring and autumn when debris the size of rice grain from the seven-mile-wide ice-and-dust ball illuminates the sky. This grouping of interstellar pebbles contributes to the Eta Aquarid meteor shower every spring and is the main source of contact with the Orionids each fall.
Each meteor shower has its own character and the Orionids are no exception. Blink your eyes and you will miss it because the shooting stars of this shower are quick – travel more than 40 miles per second! Although they do not last more than a fraction of a second, their speed will increase their brightness. A bright trail of excited gas and smoky dust can linger in the wake of a meteor for a few seconds.
And if you miss this one, do not worry! A much more prolific meteorite shower – the Geminids – arrives the second week of December.
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