The Orionid meteor shower lasts from September through the third week of November, but it’s peaking this weekend.
NASA
The Orionid meteor shower will peak early Saturday morning, raining down 10-20 meteors per hour.
The moon sets before midnight on Friday, leaving a dark sky perfect for spotting shooting stars.
If you want to see the view, find some dark skies and simply look up as meteors fly across the sky.
If you stay up late, are patient, and can handle putting your phone away for a while, you just might catch a view of the Orionid meteor shower this weekend.
This year, the shower is happening under ideal viewing conditions. The best time to see the Orionids is from midnight to dawn when the shower peaks between Oct. 20 and Oct. 21, producing an estimated 10-20 meteors per hour.
Lucky for stargazers, the moon will set around midnight. So, if you can stay up late, you’ll have a completely moonless sky to try and catch some shooting stars (weather permitting), per EarthSky.
People living in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres can enjoy this cosmic event.
Find some dark skies for the best show
Headlands International Dark Sky Park, shown here, is an IDA certified spot in Michigan.
Diana Robinson Photography / Getty Images
Take note: these meteors may require some extra focus to spot.
They’re some of the fastest-moving meteors in the night sky pummeling toward Earth at up to 41 miles per second, which may make them difficult to see, per Space.com. To boost your chances, find a dark sky, far from light pollution.
That said, according to NASA, the Orionids are known for sparking the occasional fireball — an especially bright shooting star that’s a spectacular sight to behold.
“Look for prolonged explosions of light when viewing the Orionid meteor shower,” per NASA.
Look up across the night sky
The constellation Orion is easy to spot in the night sky. Just look for the three bright stars that make up Orion’s belt.
IceCube/NASA/NSF
The Orionid meteor shower is named for the constellation the meteors appear to originate. In this case, the Orion constellation — not to be confused with the Orion nebula.
Since this constellation rises in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, people worldwide can watch the meteor shower this weekend, per The Planetary Society.
However, just because the meteors emanate from the constellation Orion doesn’t mean you should focus your gaze on just that area of the sky.
In fact, if you only look to Orion, you’ll likely miss some of the more brilliant meteors, per Space.com.
Meteors near Orion typically have shorter tails, but if you move your eyes around and gaze upon nearby constellations, you might spot more spectacular meteors with longer tails, per Space.com.
In other words, don’t be afraid to take the entire night sky in.
A gift from Halley’s comet
A photo of Halley’s comet when it whipped past Earth in the 1980s.
NSSDC’s Photo Gallery (NASA)
Though the Orionids aren’t regarded as the most dazzling of the annual meteor showers, they’re still an event on many stargazers’ calendars.
This display is caused by a famous cosmic visitor — Halley’s comet. Halley’s comet zips its way into our skies roughly every 75 years.
When it passes by, it leaves rocky, dusty debris behind. Then, when that debris collides with our atmosphere, it produces two annual meteor showers — the Eta Aquarids, which typically peak in May, and the Orionids, which peak in October this year.
Halley’s comet is due to reenter our view in 2061.