Orionid meteor shower: a bright Moon means you should look at dawn

The peak falls on the night of Wednesday, Oct. 21, into the morning of Thursday, Oct. 22. One US forecast puts the exact peak at 2 p.m. on Oct. 21, in daylight, so the nights on either side are the ones to watch. The Orionids are known for a broad peak, so you can still catch good numbers a night or two before or after.

The shower itself runs for weeks. One widely used astronomy calendar lists it from Sept. 26 to Nov. 22, while other guides give a shorter run of Oct. 2 to Nov. 7. Either way, the busiest nights are this week.

Under ideal, truly dark skies, the Orionids produce about 10 to 20 meteors an hour. That’s a modest shower, roughly one every few minutes. This year won’t be ideal.

A waxing gibbous Moon, more than half lit and growing, will be up for much of the night around the peak. Its glare washes out the fainter meteors, so you’ll mostly see the brighter ones. In London, moonset comes at about 3 a.m. BST. From then until sunrise the sky is much darker, and Orion is riding high by that point. Across the US and Canada the pattern is the same: the darkest stretch comes after moonset and before first light.

The upside is that the Orionids are fast and often bright. They can leave glowing trails that hang in the sky for a few seconds, and sometimes they flare into fireballs, which are unusually bright meteors.

You don’t need a telescope or binoculars. Your eyes are the best tool, because meteors can appear anywhere in the sky.

• Get away from lights. Find a spot away from city glow and streetlights. A park, a backyard with the porch light off or a rural road all help.
• Lie back. Bring a blanket, sleeping bag or reclining chair and take in as much sky as you can.
• Face southeast. In the Northern Hemisphere, which covers the US, UK and Canada, NASA suggests lying with your feet toward the southeast and looking up.
• Don’t stare at Orion. The meteors seem to come from near the constellation Orion, which is how the shower gets its name, but they’re easier to spot 45 to 90 degrees away from that point, where their trails look longer.
• Give it time. NASA says your eyes adapt to the dark in less than 30 minutes. Stay off your phone screen while you wait, since its light resets your night vision.

To find Orion, look for the three bright stars in a row that form Orion’s Belt.

The Orionids happen every October as Earth passes through a trail of dust shed by Halley’s comet. The comet takes about 76 years to orbit the Sun, and each time it swings close, its icy core releases dust and rock that spread along its path.

When those tiny particles, called meteoroids, slam into our atmosphere at around 148,000 mph, they heat the air around them and flash into the streaks we call shooting stars. Any piece that survives the trip and reaches the ground is called a meteorite.

Halley itself was last seen in 1986 and won’t be back for casual observers until 2061. In the meantime, Earth crosses its debris twice a year: in October for the Orionids and in May for the Eta Aquarids.

Catching a meteor on a phone is hard, but not impossible. The trick is to let the camera do the waiting.

• Keep it still. Use a small tripod or prop the phone on something solid. Any shake ruins a night shot.
• Use night mode or a long exposure. Many recent iPhones and Android phones offer a night or astrophotography mode that keeps the shutter open longer.
• Go wide. Use the standard or ultra-wide lens rather than zoom, so you cover more sky.
• Shoot a lot. Take frame after frame, or use a timelapse, and check later. Most shots will be empty. That’s normal.
• Aim away from the Moon. Its glare will flood the frame.

Honestly, if you want the best experience, watch first and photograph second. The brightest Orionids are over in a second or two.