The Orionid meteor shower 2016 is about to reach its peak and stargazers will want to know when to check it out. To help with that, InvestorPlace has collected a few things to know about the event.
Here’s what to know about the Orionid meteor shower 2016, as collected from NASA.
- The meteor shower will peak during tonight and into Saturday morning.
- Stargazers will be able to easily see the meteor shower without any telescope or special equipment.
- The Orionid meteor shower takes place once a year and is mainly in October.
- Peak days for the meteor shower are around the same time every year.
- This can include a couple days of variation for peak viewing.
- The brighter the moon is, the less those looking at the night sky will be able to see meteors.
- Tonight’s moon is in the Waning Gibbous Phase and will offer 64% of its full illumination.
- It is also a good idea to monitor local weather to make sure the night sky will be clear for seeing the event.
- Meteor showers occur when space rocks in space enters Earth’s atmosphere.
- The space rocks range in size, but are typically never big enough to survive the trip through the Earth’s atmosphere.
- The Orionid meteor shower 2016 gets its name because the meteors appear to be coming from the Orion the Hunter constellation.
- The tails from the meteors will be pointing toward the same space due to them sharing a point of origin.
You can learn more about the Orionid meteor shower 2016, and stargazing in general, by following this link.
