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DETROIT – Tonight is one of our lesser known annual meteor showers, the Orionid meteor shower.
The meteor showers bear the name of the constellation they seem to come from (this point in the sky is called the radiant) and, as tonight's meteors come from the constellation Orion, they are called Orionids. And you thought that astronomy was complicated.
You probably know what Orion looks like, but if that's not the case, I've outlined the graph below (remember the "Orion Belt" … the three closely-spaced diagonals). The Orionids usually come from the area of the sky to the left of Orion, which will generally be in the southern sky. The bad news about Orionids is that they tend to be weaker than some of our other meteor showers. The good news is that they move faster than the average and extend further into the sky. So if you see one, it will be pretty cool.
When to watch? This is another bad news. Unlike our recent shower of draconid meteors, when the evening was the best time to watch, the Orionids are better visible in the hour or two hours before dawn on Sunday morning. And this is especially important this year because there will be a bright moon in the sky most of the night. Moonlight means we can not see the weakest. Yes, you can go out and look earlier in the night and maybe see some of them, but you'll be much more likely to see the moon go down and the sky be darker late at night.
Good luck!
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