From 11pm on Sunday the 21st of October, the Orionids meteor shower will hit The Earth’s atmosphere.
The Orionids meteor shower is going to be taking place this Sunday October to the early morning hours of Monday 22nd October 2018.
The Earth will run into millions of tiny meteorites, from the annual Orionids meteor shower this month.
As Perth Observatory noted for this site in 2015, 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.
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