{"id":895008,"date":"2026-10-26T07:46:33","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T07:46:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/895008\/"},"modified":"2026-10-26T07:46:33","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T07:46:33","slug":"orionid-meteor-shower-peaks-overnight-on-oct-21-22-heres-the-best-time-to-spot-shooting-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/895008\/","title":{"rendered":"Orionid meteor shower peaks overnight on Oct. 21-22 \u2014Here’s the best time to spot shooting stars"},"content":{"rendered":"

Orionid meteor shower<\/a> activity peaks when Earth<\/a> travels through the densest section of the debris trail left by Comet 1P\/Halley. The comet is currently racing back towards the sun<\/a> ahead of its next visit to the inner solar system<\/a> in 2061.<\/p>\n

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Under perfect dark sky conditions 10 to 20 shooting stars<\/a> could brighten the night sky each hour as the peak unfolds, according to NASA<\/a>. However, the light cast by the waxing moon \u2014 just four days from being full \u2014 will likely reduce the number of visible meteors by hiding fainter Orionids from sight.<\/p>\n

Orionid shooting stars will appear to travel away from a point of origin, close to the red star Betelgeuse<\/a> in the constellation Orion<\/a>, rising above the eastern horizon an hour before midnight for viewers in the U.S.<\/p>\n

When and where to see Orionid shooting stars this October<\/p>\n

Your best chance at spotting the fast-moving meteors will come in the hours before dawn on Oct. 22, after the moon<\/a> has set and the radiant approaches its highest point in the night sky. It’s best not to stare directly at the radiant, where the glowing meteor trails will be relatively short compared to those left by shooting stars that appear 45-90 degrees<\/a> away from the bright star Betelgeuse, thanks to an effect known as foreshortening.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

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How to measure distances in the night sky using nothing but your hand. (Image credit: Created in Canva Pro)<\/p>\n

Try to travel away from city lights and allow 20-30 minutes for your eyes to adapt to the dark. Always make sure someone knows where you’re going if you head somewhere remote to catch the shower and be sure to take a red light to ensure that you can find your way while also preserving your night vision!<\/p>\n

Editor’s Note: If you would like to share your Orionid shooting star photos with Space.com’s readers, then please send your image(s), along with your name, location and comments to spacephotos@space.com. <\/p>\n

\"Space\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Don’t miss the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":895009,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[79],"class_list":["post-895008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=895008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/895009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=895008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=895008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=895008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}