Catch A Shooting Star This Weekend As Halley's Comet Debris Lights Up The Sky

The iconic Halley’s Comet will be leaving a treasure trove of shooting stars for stargazers to catch this weekend. The meteor shower, also known as the Orionids, peaks during mid-October each year, and is considered to be one of the most beautiful meteor showers of the year.

Whether a comet with an orbit of every 80,000 years, a massive solar storm producing an awe-inspiring aurora, or last night’s Harvest Moon, the month of October has already been full of incredible celestial events. Not to be outdone, Halley’s Comet is expected to provide a weekend of shooting stars for all to catch and wish upon. Well, as long as there are clear skies.

“Find an area well away from the city or street lights,” advised Bill Cooke, who leads NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “Come prepared with a blanket. Lie flat on your back and look up, taking in as much of the sky as possible. In less than 30 minutes in the dark, your eyes will adapt and you will begin to see meteors.”


According to NASA, Orionid meteors are known for their brightness and for their speed. The meteor shower is considered to be a medium strength shower that sometimes reaches high strength activity. In a typical year, the Orionids produce around 10-20 shooting stars per hour. Adding a gorgeous backdrop to the spectacular show of lights in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere will be some of the brightest stars in the night sky.

But what about the comet that will make the light show possible, Halley’s Comet. Well, many consider it the most famous comet because it marked the first time astronomers understood comets could be repeat visitors. According to NASA, astronomers have now linked the famous comet’s appearances to observations dating back more than 2,000 years. Halley takes about 76 years to orbit the Sun once, with its last appearance being in 1986. The comet is not expected to be able to be seen from Earth again until 2061.

However, each time Halley’s Comet returns to the inner solar system, its nucleus sheds ice and rocky dust into space. It is these dust grains that eventually become the Orionids in October, and the Eta Aquarids in May, if they end up colliding with Earth’s atmosphere.

Be sure to take advantage of the Orionids this weekend, as skywatching events are beginning to wind down for the year. The next two meteor showers, the Geminid and Ursid, are both in December.