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By Ashley Strickland, CNN
(CNN) – The night sky will present shooting stars this weekend, visible everywhere in the sky, around the world.
The Orionid meteor shower is perhaps not the most spectacular of the year, but it is a treat in other respects. Orionids appear every year between October 2nd and November 7th.
The peak occurs when the Earth crosses a stream of debris left by Comet Halley when we cut its orbit each year at this time.
They radiate from the famous constellation of Orion, but you do not have to look in the direction of the constellation to see them. In fact, you probably should not, because these meteors will have short tracks and will be harder to see.
The best time to see this meteor shower, which could produce 10 to 20 meteors per hour during rush hours this weekend, is when the moon does not dominate the night sky. This is because these meteors are weaker than the meteor shower of the Perseids.
The meteor showers will culminate on the night of October 21-22, early in the morning, but the best view will be during a brief window between the setting of the moon and the beginning of the twilight. Allow yourself an hour or two to observe. You can check timeanddate.com to find out when the shower is over in your area.
Orionids are also hard to see because they are so fast. They enter our atmosphere at a speed of 41 miles per second, vaporizing in our upper atmosphere about 60 miles above the surface of the Earth. Some have been synchronized at 148,000 miles per hour. But there is no danger that these bright meteors will collide with the Earth. Some meteorites are only the size of a grain of sand.
But they leave nice traces of gas that can stretch for a few seconds after the meteor itself has disappeared. Or they can break into shiny fragments.
Find an unobstructed spot outside the city that will offer you an unobstructed view of the sky, and do not forget to bring a blanket or an armchair and a dress suited to the weather. Allow yourself time for your eyes to adapt to the darkness. And you will not need binoculars or telescopes to enjoy the show.
The-CNN-Wire
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