Dazzling Orionid meteor shower to light up night sky with Halley’s Comet debris

As if we haven’t been dazzled enough by the Northern Lights and two newly discovered comets that are streaking across the night sky this month, there’s an autumn meteor shower that will soon be peaking.

Although the Orionid meteor shower has been visible since late September, astronomy experts say it will be at its most active phase early Sunday, Oct. 20, and early Monday, Oct. 21.

Stargazers have an opportunity to see 10 to 20 meteors shooting across the sky each hour in dark locations.

And, speaking of dark locations, they could be a little tougher than usual to find in the coming days. That’s because the October “hunter’s moon” — which just turned full on Thursday — will be 86% illuminated on Sunday and 77% full on Monday.

Experts at EarthSky.org say the most ideal times to catch a glimpse of some shooting stars from the Orionid shower will likely be during the early morning hours — mainly from midnight to dawn — on both Sunday and Monday.

“At the Orionids’ peak, the waning gibbous moon will interfere with the meteor shower,” the astronomy website says. “Try blocking the moon out from your observing spot.”

The Orionid meteor shower — which occurs each fall when the Earth passes through tiny particles of space debris from the famous Halley’s Comet — is known for generating fast-moving meteors and some bright fireballs.

2 new comets zipping through space

Astronomy experts say one of the two recently discovered comets, known as C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS), was spotted for the first time early last year and has been seen by many skywatchers around the world during recent weeks.

NASA has said the best time for skywatchers to catch a glimpse of the Tsuchinshan-ATLAS comet will be between Oct. 14 and Oct. 24, and possibly through the end of this month.

The other comet, known as known as C/2024 S1 (ATLAS), was discovered in late September and is expected to be visible in the night sky in late October or early November.

As of now, a telescope is needed to see this comet because it is fairly dim, according to the Smithsonian magazine. However, some experts are predicting the comet may get much brighter — “potentially brighter than Venus,” the magazine reported.