The Orionid meteor shower, associated with the debris of Halley’s comet, is all set to make its comeback on Friday. It has been reported that if the sky is clear, one could see up to 25 shooting stars an hour, travelling at around 41 miles per second.
However, reports suggest that the moon’s brightness could overshadow the meteor’s show on Friday night. Speaking to The New York Times, an astronomer from NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office, Bill Cooke, highlighted the moon’s effect on the meteor shower. “Turns out tonight the moon will park itself very close to the Orionid radiant and completely wash out the Orionid meteors,” said Cooke. Stargazers would not need a telescope to witness the meteor shower.
In Pakistan, people could tune into the live streaming of the night sky from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center which has been made available via Ustream. It is scheduled to start 10 pm EDT (7:00 am PST on Saturday). The live feed is also an alternative for stargazers experiencing bad weather or light-polluted night skies.
Do tune in!
The display will be framed by some of the prettiest stars in the night sky. In addition to Orionids, you’ll see the “Dog Star” Sirius, bright winter constellations such as Orion, Gemini, and Taurus, and the planets Jupiter and Venus. Even if the shower is a dud, the rest of the sky is dynamite.
