From tonight until October 22, the most popular meteor shower in October, the Orionids , will reach its maximum activity. Meteors can be seen north of the constellation Orion. The optimal time to see them will be before sunrise. For an observer from the northern hemisphere, it is calculated that the number of meteors that will be seen during each hour (Zenith Hourly Rate or THZ) will be between 20 and 30. These are rather weak and fast fleets.
The Orionid Meteor Shower is associated with the particle path left by Comet P / Halley when it passed near the Sun two decades ago. These dust particles, usually on the order of tenths of a millimeter, are incinerated upon entering the Earth's atmosphere , turning incandescent . For a few years the activity of these fleets has been more intense than usual, especially in 2006 , the year in which large fireballs were observed that reached a speed of 240,000 kilometers per hour. Spanish scientists then demonstrated that the phenomenon was due to gravitational disturbances with Jupiter, the planet with the most mass in the solar system.
