Orionid Meteor Shower 2015: Watch Meteors From Halley's Comet At Peak Time Tonight, Plus Live Stream
Here's how you can get a good view of the 2015 Orionid meteor shower tonight through tomorrow morning.
The Orion constellation will be visible in the night sky tonight, with meteors known as Orionids shooting across the sky.
Whether or not you'll get a clear view of the meteor shower will depend on your location, with poor visibility expected for the Texas/Oklahoma area, the Pacific Northwest and New England and fair to good visibility elsewhere.
So why are the meteors referred to as the Orionids? As EarthSky's Deborah Byrd explained via
USA Today, it's because of their location
"Meteors in annual showers are named for the point in our sky from which they appear to radiate," Byrd said. "The radiant point for the Orionids is in the direction of the famous constellation Orion the Hunter."
The Orionid meteors are also popular because they are fragments of Halley's Comet.
NASA predicts that the shower may be weaker overall this year.
"The Orionids will probably show weaker activity than usual this year," said Bill Cooke of the NASA Meteoroid Environments Office at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. "Bits of comet dust hitting the atmosphere will probably give us about a dozen meteors per hour."
The best time to locate the meteor shower will be in the last few hours before dawn, according to NASA.
NASA will have a live stream for those unable to to see the shower. It will begin streaming from Marshall Space Flight Center starting at 10 p.m. ET. They predict meteors may be seen as early as 11:30 ET.
