Although the peak period has passed, we can still enjoy one of the most spectacular meteor showers of the year. For many fans, this event is more anticipated than the Perseid meteor shower, but its summer sister becomes more popular because August nights are friendlier than September ones. Those wanting to get out and scan the skies for “shooting stars” should gather their courage and, if possible, pack some feathers, as the minimum temperature will not exceed 15 degrees Celsius in many parts of the peninsula, while reaching around 15 degrees Celsius in other places. 0℃. As this heat threat looms over us, The Orionid meteor shower must give us good reason to get out of our duvets. Fortunately, they have them. The first is its speed: More than 238,000 kilometers per hourslightly higher than the Perseid meteor shower (210,000 km/h).
The Orionid meteor shower is an echo of the famous Halley’s Comet. When a comet passes near us, it leaves a trail, like a breadcrumb trail. Every year, as we cross the trail they left behind, part of it collides with our atmosphere, heats up, and burns up. This is what we see when we look up at the sky. Debris from Halley’s Comet burns overhead. Some of these fragments were released in 1266, but others in 1198 or 911.. Let’s remember that Halley’s Comet passes by approximately every 76 years (it will return in 2061 after its last visit in 1986), but not always in this specific way. However, it must be recognized that their numbers are smaller than those of the Perseid meteor shower. Although the Orionids flash 200 times per hour, the Orionids are 10 times less frequent.
Meteor showers are a great way for amateurs to get up close and personal with astronomy.They’re spectacular and you don’t need to be big Night sky knowledge Enjoy them. However, there are steps we can take to optimize the experience and see as much of what we are able to hunt as possible.Perhaps, first, we can stick to the obvious: look for clear sky. There was nothing we could do to uncover the night, but we did have the ability to move to a nearby town where skies were expected to be less cloudy. Likewise, it’s a good idea to find a high ground to control the horizon, with no relevant obstructions between us and the horizon..Finally, it is recommended to stay away from overly lit towns, for which it is better to find a light pollution map Stay away from your area and try to stay away from the brightest areas, leaving them on the other side of the Orionids we’ll be observing.
The latter is important because the Orionids get their name from the specific point in the night sky where they happen to be spotted. Orion, one of the most visible and spectacular constellations in the winter sky. The meteors that light up the night will radiate from this point and move away from it as they burn.To find it we can use free applications such as google sky, which will allow us to easily locate Orion, the direction in which we should be looking every night.However, we must be careful and Put the app into night mode, which limits screen light to a reddish tint. Beyond pure aesthetics, red light plays an important role because it doesn’t have enough energy to allow our eyes to adjust to the dark, thus keeping our visual acuity sharp during star hunting. Anyway, it’s not hard to spot with the naked eye. Its most striking feature is the Three Marys, three stars that appear to line up perfectly.
The best thing is that we don’t need anything else to gaze at the Orionids, maybe a thermos and some music, but space provides the rest.
Not well known:
- An object that passes through the atmosphere while burning has a specific name, it is called a meteor, or if it is very bright, it is called a bolide. Those are shooting stars. Before they fall into our atmosphere, they are called meteoroids, and if they survive their descent and reach the Earth’s surface, we call them meteors. It is important to remember that meteoroids are smaller than asteroids, technically 100 microns in diameter up to 50 meters.
References (MLA):
- pot. “Orionid Meteor Shower | Watch the Sky.” NASA, 2020, https://blogs.nasa.gov/Watch_the_Skies/tag/orionids/.
- pot. “The Orionids.” NASA Science, 2020, https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/meteors-meteorites/orionids/.