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WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (WFMY) – Did you see it? A bright shooting star crossing the sky Tuesday night.
That's exactly what Chris Mattingly saw in his dash when driving on Silas Creek Parkway at Winston-Salem.
Very bright meteors are also called "fireballs" because they light up the sky. Meteors appear as a trail of fire in the sky as they enter the atmosphere from space. WFMY News 2 chief meteorologist Tim Buckley said the Orionid meteor shower peaked this weekend. It is probably related to this meteor shower.
People around Piedmont, and as far away as Charlotte, have also reported seeing this shooting star. Some noted that he had a green hue at the tail.
METEORS ORIONID
"Orionid meteors are debris left by comet Halle," one of the most famous of all comets, Deborah Byrd of Earthsky.org.
At its peak, about 15 to 20 meteors per hour should be visible.
Orionids are among the fastest and brightest among the meteor showers, as the Earth hits the flow of particles almost from the front, according to Space.com. How fast? Most files are compressed at 41 miles per second, which is about 148,000 mph.
If the meteors come from Halley, why are they called Orionids? "The meteors present in the annual showers are named after the point of our sky from where they seem to radiate," according to Byrd. "The point of radiation for the Orionids is in the direction of the famous constellation Orion the Hunter."
© 2018 WFMY
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