The famous Halley’s comet may now be in deep space, somewhere on its path to returning to the Earth’s vicinity in July 2061, but we can still see the fragments of its previous apparitions this week.
The Orionids meteor shower is composed of dust grains left in orbit by the comet in centuries past. When Earth ploughs through the dust stream at this time of the year, it produces a meteor shower that can be seen for most of the week, with a nominal peak of activity on the night of 21-22 October.
The chart shows the view looking east from London at midnight on Friday evening. The meteors radiate from a point near Orion’s right elbow, hence the meteor shower’s name. Usually dependable, the shower can reach an hourly rate of more than 50 meteors but very occasionally they peter out, as happened in 2017 when the reported rates were only about 10 an hour.
When observing the shower, don’t look directly at the radiant point, instead look just off to the side or above. This year, the red beacon of Mars can provide a useful guide for the eye. The shower is also visible from the southern hemisphere in the east-north-eastern sky.
