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Orionids Meteor Shower

Oct 2nd, 2009
by Meteor.

Click the Image for Starry Night Software

Click the Image for Starry Night Software

The Orionids Meteor Shower started October 2nd. This is the meteor shower that inspired me to create MeteorBlog.com. It was one year ago that while observing this event, I thought, “Wouldn’t it be nice to let people know about meteor showers?” Meteor shower viewing has always been an interest to me since a very young age. So I’m officially announcing that October 21st, the peak of the Orionids Meteor Shower, is MeteorBlog’s first birthday. The Orionids is a major meteor shower that will most likely produce about 30 meteors per hour. This year’s near perfect viewing conditions will should be very good because the phase of the Moon on October 21st will be a waxing crescent with approximately 13% of the Moon’s visible disk illuminated! Man-made lights are always a detriment to meteor shower viewing. As always, I recommend going to a safe dark place as far as possible from “city lights” and look toward the constellation Orion. The Orionids Meteor Shower takes its name from the perception that all meteors will seem to originate from this constellation. The best time to view this shower is in the morning of October 21st looking to Orion, which is visible in the southern sky. If you’re interested here is last year’s post about the Orionids Meteor Shower or you can look at this year’s most recent post about the Orionids Meteor Shower – Peak of the Week.

Keep your head up.

- Meteor Mark

Posted in: October Meteor Shower 2009.
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10 Comments on “Orionids Meteor Shower”

  1. #1 Regina
    on Oct 6th, 2009 at 10:43 pm

    Hey my daughter will be very excited about this. She loves looking for Orion’s Belt every night. She loves looking at the stars just as much as I do. I guess I named her correctly; Orion is her first name. Love the site and the updates! Keep up the good work!! :-)

  2. #2 Meteor
    on Oct 6th, 2009 at 11:43 pm

    Thank you! Awesome name, keep your head up!

  3. #3 Cindy
    on Oct 16th, 2009 at 6:19 am

    Will the Orionids Meteor Shower be viewed in the Southern Hemisphere where I am?

  4. #4 Meteor
    on Oct 16th, 2009 at 6:44 am

    Cindy,

    Orion is visible in the southern hemisphere. I don’t know exactly where you are, so to the best of my knowledge, yes you should be able to see this shower. I believe that for most people in the southern hemisphere Orion appears in the north.

    Keep your head up!

    - Meteor Mark

  5. #5 Cindy
    on Oct 18th, 2009 at 5:29 pm

    Hi Mark

    Thanks for getting back to me. I live in Adelaide, Australia. Can you point me into the right direction to where I could find the exact date and time this shower may be visible?

    Thanks again!

    Cindy

  6. #6 Meteor
    on Oct 18th, 2009 at 6:29 pm

    Cindy,

    I’ve made a new post with information regarding the best time and dates to look in the article – Peak of the Week – with an additional comment. I suggest looking at the Meteor Shower Viewing page located in the upper right hand corner. There are a few links in that page that will give you a better understanding of how to view meteor showers. Orionids are interesting because the “peak” is very unpredictable and can last a few days.

    Keep your head up.

    - Meteor Mark

  7. #7 Cindy
    on Oct 18th, 2009 at 9:31 pm

    Thanks Mark for the info….will definitely check these out :-)

  8. #8 Meteor
    on Oct 18th, 2009 at 9:34 pm

    Cindy,

    Please let me know what you see. It is always nice to hear people’s experiences.

    - Meteor Mark

  9. #9 Edwin
    on Oct 22nd, 2009 at 11:13 am

    I dragged a couple of friends out on the 20th to try and watch the meteor shower and wasn’t disappointed! We had perfect weather and although we were only out for about an hour til 2:30am local time (Brisbane, Aus) still saw a number of magnificent streaks across the sky, and even more smaller, shorter ones. I was surprised at how many I saw, being only about 45 minutes out from the city and being able to still see the city glow.

    Had a look outside from my backyard just before and was lucky enough to see another 2 in the 5 or so minutes I was out!

    Certainly brings back memories of watching the Orionids when I was a kid!

  10. #10 Meteor
    on Oct 22nd, 2009 at 5:09 pm

    Excellent story Edwin. That’s what it’s all about.

    - Meteor Mark