{"id":231335,"date":"2025-10-22T02:05:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T02:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/231335\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T02:05:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T02:05:13","slug":"best-viewing-times-how-to-watch-and-everything-you-need-to-know-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/231335\/","title":{"rendered":"Best viewing times, how to watch and everything you need to know, explained"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A meteor shower lit up Australia&#8217;s skies last night, but don&#8217;t worry if you missed out \u2013 there&#8217;s still plenty of time to see the \ufeffOrionids meteor shower.<\/p>\n<p>The annual shower comes around every October and runs for multiple weeks, meaning there&#8217;s plenty of opportunity to spot its shooting stars.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s everything to know about the \ufeffOrionids meteor shower and how to see it in Australia.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/7cdf3440-bc39-442a-933d-b808720fa998.jpeg\"   alt=\"Milky Way stars with meteor shower trails and countryside silhouettes.\"\/>A meteor shower will fill Australia&#8217;s skies with shooting stars this month. (Getty)<\/p>\n<p>Can you see the Orionids meteor shower in Australia?<\/p>\n<p>Yes, the \ufeffOrionids meteor shower is visible across the southern hemisphere, including here in Australia.<\/p>\n<p>Swinburne astrophysicist Dr Sara Webb said this week will be Aussies&#8217; best chance to see a shooting star.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;With the Orionids peaking this week, it&#8217;s a perfect opportunity to head outside, away from city light and soak up the universe for an hour or so,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Look in the direction of the Orion constellation, a very easy one to spot with your naked eye, or via the help of a night sky app.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It is also visible in the northern hemisphere.\ufeff<\/p>\n<p>What causes the Orionids meteor shower?<\/p>\n<p>The \ufeffOrionids meteor shower is named for the constellation Orion, as the meteors appear to radiate from the same area of the sky where the constellation is located.<\/p>\n<p>But it is caused by the comet 1P\/Halley crossing Earth&#8217;s orbit.<\/p>\n<p>The comet leaves debris in its wake, which Earth passes through, creating the \ufeffOrionids meteor shower.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When you spot the shooting star, you&#8217;ll be looking at a bit of cosmic debris left behind from a comet burning up in our Earth&#8217;s atmosphere,&#8221; Webb said.<\/p>\n<p>And this is not the only meteor shower caused by Halley.<\/p>\n<p>The Eta Aquarid meteor shower is also \ufeffcreated by debris from the same comet.<\/p>\n<p>That meteor shower occurs in May and is also visible from Australia, so keep an eye out in 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Though both meteor showers are caused by \ufeffHalley&#8217;s Comet, the comet itself is rarely visible from Earth.<\/p>\n<p>It was last seen in Earth&#8217;s skies back in 1986 and won&#8217;t be visible again until 2061.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.9news.com.au\/content\/2025\/04\/20\/09\/46\/astronaut-view-from-space-in-photos\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/726ea032-e6d9-42d2-9469-ae7ab08fd07f.jpeg\"   alt=\"\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Astronaut returning to earth shares mind-blowing images of the cosmos<\/p>\n<p>During the \ufeffOrionids meteor shower, meteors appear as flashes of light moving across the sky \u2013 or, in plain English, shooting stars.<\/p>\n<p>The meteors often originate in the area of the sky near \ufeffthe constellation Orion, but can appear anywhere in the sky.<\/p>\n<p>How many meteors will I see?<\/p>\n<p>At its peak, up to 20 meteors are visible every hour in the Orionids meteor shower.<\/p>\n<p>Generally, the number of meteors visible in the sky decreases each night after the peak until the shower ends.\ufeff<\/p>\n<p>What is the best time to see the Orionids meteor shower?<\/p>\n<p>Technically, the best time to see it was last night \u2013 but that doesn&#8217;t mean you&#8217;ve missed out.<\/p>\n<p>The \ufeffOrionids meteor shower started on October 2, peaked on the night of October 21-22, and will remain active until early November.<\/p>\n<p>That means meteors will still be visible for the rest of the month, though the frequency will decrease over time.\ufeff<\/p>\n<p>The shower will officially end around November 7.\ufeff<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/e74fba9f-4651-49d3-baad-a8f74d3d32ea.jpeg\"   alt=\"FILE - This photo provided by NASA shows a meteor from the Orionid shower on Oct. 13, 2015. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory\/NASA via AP, File)\"\/>A NASA photo of a meteor from the Orionid shower back in 2015. (AP)<\/p>\n<p>Where can you see the Orionids meteor shower best in Australia?<\/p>\n<p>The best place to see the \ufeffOrionids meteor shower from Australia is from a secluded area away from bright city lights.<\/p>\n<p>Pick somewhere with a clear view of the sky and check the weather forecast, as you need a clear sky to spot meteors.<\/p>\n<p>A \ufeffmeteor shower sky map can help you locate the radiant (area where most of the meteors will appear from) and then it&#8217;s just a waiting game.<\/p>\n<p>When is the next meteor shower in Australia?<\/p>\n<p>Another meteor shower is already on the horizon: the Leonids.\ufeff<\/p>\n<p>The Leonid meteor shower will start around November 6, peak around November 17 or 18, and wrap up by the end of the month.<\/p>\n<p>It will be visible from both hemispheres, meaning Australians who miss the Orionids will get another chance to witness a meteor shower soon.<\/p>\n<p>After the Leonids, other meteor showers that will be visible from Australia include the Geminids in December, the Lyrids in April, and the \ufeffEta Aquarids in May.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A meteor shower lit up Australia&#8217;s skies last night, but don&#8217;t worry if you missed out \u2013 there&#8217;s&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":231336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[64,63,128,285],"class_list":{"0":"post-231335","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-space"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}