Orionid meteor shower to peak this weekend

If the weather cooperates, you should be able to see the peak of the Orionid meteor shower over the weekend.

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Earth Sky said that “the greatest number of meteors” will be seen on the mornings of Oct. 21 and 22, with Sunday morning being the best display.

They originate from the constellation Orion, as the name suggests, but that’s not the only place where they can be seen. It is best to watch the areas from 45 to 90 degrees from the radiant, or where they appear to come from, NASA reported.

The Orionid’s radiant is just north of Betelgeuse.

The meteors are best seen just before dawn, with the radiant rising before midnight and the highest point around 2 a.m.

You could see between 10 and 20 meteors per hour, while some of them leave trains behind them. Some may be bright fireballs, Earth Sky said.

The meteors we see come from Halley’s Comet, which orbits the sun every 76 years. The meteors come from the dust particles that are expelled from the comet’s center and left behind. The Orionids come from Halley’s inbound track and are seen annually. A second meteor shower that comes from Halley’s Comet is the Eta Aquariids, which happens in annually May.

They zoom by at 41 miles a second and are among the fastest meteors, according to NASA.

Halley’s Comet was last seen in 1986 and will return in 2061, NASA said.

If you're in the Seattle area, you may be out of luck this weekend if the weather forecast for Saturday and Sunday holds up.

According to KIRO 7 pinpoint meteorologist Nick Allard, we're looking at mostly cloudy skies for both days of the meteor shower. Sunday will also bring some light showers.