New Delhi:
Time to make a list of wishes because the night sky is lit with not one, but over a hundred shooting stars. The Orionid Meteor Shower is at peak.
October is a special time for astronomy lovers as around this time every year, Earth passes through the tail of debris left behind by three different comets.
Right now, we’re cruising through the tail of Halley's comet, and the result is one of the best sky-watching events of the year - the Orionid meteor shower. This shower lasts until November 7, but don’t wait, because it’s at its peak.
Every year the Oriniod meteor shower peaks on the night of October 20 and early morning of October 21, when star gazers can spot up to 20 meteors per hour burning up in Earth's atmosphere all night long.
These meteors are known as Orionids, because they appear to emanate from a region to the north of the second-brightest star in the Orion constellation - Betelgeuse.
They were originally meteoroids, formed from the remnants of the nucleus - or rocky core - of Halley's comet. Since breaking apart from the comet, they’ve remained as a swirling cloud of rubble, shadowing it as it orbits the Sun every 76 years.
But do not fret if you cannot spot some shooting stars from the current meteor shower because of the bright and shiny moon, because very soon there will be Geminids in December and then after few months Perseids in August.
Happy star gazing!
