The Orionids Meteor Shower: Perth, Look Up for a Spectacular Show
In the late night hours of Sunday October 21st, as most of start to drift off to asleep, the spectacular Orionids meteor shower will begin to hit atmosphere.
The Earth will run head-on into millions of tiny meteorites, speeding at great speed across our skies above.
The show starts around 10.30pm on Sunday the 21st of October – peaking between 4am and 5am – when many dozens of shooting stars will be visible, if cloud cover is limited, every hour.
Where and Where to see the Orionids Meteor Shower in Perth?
How to See the Orionids in Perth
You don’t need any special equipment or a lot of skills to view a meteor shower. Even though all you really need is a clear sky, lots of patience, and our handy Interactive Meteor Shower Sky Map with a visibility conditions meter to see a meteor shower, the following tips can help maximize your shooting star viewing experience.
- Find a secluded viewing spot, away from the city lights. Once at the venue, your eyes may take 15 to 20 minutes to get used to the dark.
- Dress for the weather, and make sure you are comfortable, especially if you plan to stay out long. Bring a blanket or a comfortable chair with you—meteor watching can be a waiting game.
- Once you have found your viewing spot, lie down on the ground and look up in the direction of the radiant. Use our Interactive Meteor Shower Sky Map or the table above to find the current direction of the radiant in the sky.
As the Perth Observatory wrote for us, the Orionids have been observed for at least 200 years now and they’re caused by The Earth flying through the debris left over from Comet Halley’s tail.
They’ll appear to be coming from the Orion constellation which is where the meteor shower gets its name from.
As the Comet orbits The Sun, an orbit that takes 76 years, it leaves a debris field full of dust, ice, and rocks that can be over 1,000 years old.
Every October, The Earth fly’s through this debris field, with the dust, ice, and rocks entering The Earth’s atmosphere and burning up causing the brilliant streaks of light that you see from the ground.
Orionids is one of the top meteor showers to observe during the 4th quarter of the year, with about 15 to 20 green or yellowish meteorites streaking through the atmosphere per hour. The debris field started hitting The Earth around the 2nd of October and it’ll finish up towards the 7th of November.
The meteor shower will peak on the 21st and 22nd of October, but this year The Moon will be in our skies at the same time and it’s in the waxing gibbon phase (the phase of The Moon in-between a quarter moon and a full moon) so we’ll have to put up with some light pollution from The Moon.
Orion will appear in our skies around 22:30pm at night so the best time to view the Orionids is between 12am and 4am as.
If you do get up at those ungodly hours to look at the meteor shower, you need to look directly east around midnight and then towards the North as it gets closer to sunrise.
Video: Orionids meteor shower in 2017
Related:
View the Perseids Meteor Shower
Perth Fireball: Huge meteor over city
The Germinids Meteor Shower
