Isophoric News · Sunday, October 18, 2026

Orionid meteor shower peaks overnight Oct. 21-22

The Orionid meteor shower peaks overnight on Oct. 21-22, with 10 to 20 meteors an hour visible under ideal dark-sky conditions, according to Space.com and the BBC. Space.com says the best viewing is between midnight and dawn on Oct. 22, after the 74%-lit moon sets a few hours after midnight, and that meteors seem to radiate from a patch of sky near the star Betelgeuse in Orion, which will be above the southeastern horizon for U.S. viewers. Both outlets advise finding a dark spot away from street lights; the BBC says to allow 15 to 20 minutes for your eyes to adjust and Space.com says 20 to 30. The shower is caused by Earth passing through debris left by Halley's Comet and, the BBC says, is active until Nov. 7.

By D. Marlowe · October 18, 2026 · First reported October 17, 2026 · Edited by C. Fletcher

Representative image: Astronomy; a meteor shower in the night sky. Mezzotint. Wellcome V0024753 https://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/obf_images/18/61/f4b40f58c758ac005a905be56d53.jpg Gallery: https://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/image/V0024753.html Wellcome Collection gallery (2018-03-23): https://wellcomecollection.org/works/erfyz4wz CC-BY-4.0 / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0 · Original

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