A shooting star display in the Kubuqi desert, Inner Mongolia, China, back in 2020. (Image credit: bjdlzx via Getty Images)(Image credit: bjdlzx via Getty Images)
Stargazers are in line for something unique following nightfall on Monday, October 20, through Tuesday, October 21, when a yearly meteor display created by Halley’s Comet achieves maximum intensity just as a duo of newly identified comets arrive at their most radiant locations in the evening environment.
Per the American Meteor Society, the Orionid meteor display occurs from October 2 to November 7, peaking on October 20 to October 21. That lines up with a new moon — when the moon is positioned between our planet and our sun and is missing from the evening environment — suggesting the unusual cosmic spectacle should gain from profound darkness. Though, open skies will still be needed to view meteors and the illuminating comets Lemmon (C/2025 A6) and SWAN (C/2025 R2).
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Orionids come from Halley’s Comet, which was most recently observed in the inner planetary system in 1986 and will next be apparent in 2061. The additional meteor display brought about by Halley’s Comet comprises April’s Eta Aquariids.
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While the Orionid meteor display will be optimally viewed in the hours beyond midnight on Tuesday, October 21, the viewing opportunity for the comets will happen considerably sooner the prior evening. Both comets will reside in the post-sundown environment and will be optimally observed an hour and a half after sunset — mainly via stargazing binoculars, though perhaps with the bare eye, too, if viewed from a dark environment site.
Comet Lemmon, which was detected in January by the Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter observatory within Arizona’s Santa Catalina Mountains, will be low in the northwest between the conclusion of the handle of the Big Dipper and the brilliant star Arcturus. Comet SWAN, which was initially observed in September via NASA’s orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory, will be low to the south, barely underneath the radiant star Altair, among the trio of stars comprising the renowned Summer Triangle formation.
Jamie CarterSocial Links NavigationLive Science contributor
Jamie Carter serves as a freelance journalist and consistent Live Science contributor situated in Cardiff, U.K. He authored A Stargazing Program For Beginners and lectures regarding astronomy alongside the natural realm. Jamie consistently contributes to Space.com, TechRadar.com, Forbes Science, BBC Wildlife magazine and Scientific American, among numerous others. He oversees WhenIsTheNextEclipse.com.
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