Orionid Meteor Shower 2014: Rain or Shine, 'There's No Year Better for the Orionids Than This One'
ByComing fresh off a blood moon total lunar eclipse, sky-watchers are in for a stunning Orionid Meteor Shower.
According to AccuWeather, the show is set to begin on the night of Tuesday, Oct. 21 and go into the morning of Wednesday, Oct. 22. Bob Berman, an astronomer with the Slooh Observatory, said the Orionid Meteor Shower may yield up to 25 meteors per hour.
"There's no year better for the Orionids than this one," Berman told AccuWeather.
Despite the bright new moon, a nor'easter expected in the middle of the week may bring about clouds that could alter gazers' view of the meteor shower. Meteorologists with AccuWeather predict central and south Florida, the Northeast, parts of the Midwest and the Pacific Northwest will have trouble seeing the Orionids.
"The uncertainty of whether we're going to have a super shower this year or not is another reason to really pay attention," Berman said. "We certainly have the great conditions for it, with this new moon."
Bill Cooke, of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office, said the Earth is treated to the Orionid Meteor Shower every time this year because the planet is traveling through the leavings of an ancient comet.
"Earth is passing through a stream of debris from Halley's Comet, the source of the Orionids," he said in a press release. "Bits of comet dust hitting the atmosphere should give us a couple dozen of meteors per hour."
Both Slooh and NASA will host live streams online.
"As the meteors enter the ionosphere, they, appropriately enough, ionize the air and that serves as a reflector for radio waves, so they actually give a crackle and a sound at the speed of light," Berman told AccuWeather. "As the meteors are being seen, they can also be heard."