Falling stars in autumn ready to make a show: in the sky are the Orionids, meteor 'daughters' of Halley's comet, which reach their peak at dawn on 21 October.
This year the observation conditions, weather permitting, are optimal "because the Moon will be completely absent." Setting in the first part of the night, the LUna completely leaves the scene free to the Orionids ", astrophysicist Gianluca told ANSA. Masi, scientific director of the Virtual Telescope.
The Orionids take their name from the constellation of Orion, which hosts the radiant of the swarm, ie "the celestial point from which these meteors seem to spring from perspective," explains Masi.
As for the origin, these meteors are related to Halley's comet which, he continued, "left a cloud of debris along its orbit and when the Earth passes through it, the relative meteor shower ignites."
During the peak, about twenty can be seen per hour and appear as particularly fast flashes of light.
To see them, added the astrophysicist, it is always advisable to go to areas free of light pollution.
According to Enrico Stomeo of the Meteor section of the Italian Amateur Astronomers Union (Uai), the Orionids "will be clearly visible after midnight, when the radiant north of the star Betelgeuse will be higher on the horizon. The absence of the Moon will allow any kind of study: in the visual on the hourly frequencies and on the distribution of luminosity, in the photographic and video domain on the position of the radian ".
The individual associations of amateur astronomers, Paolo Volpini of the Uai found, are in fact organizing to monitor the activity of the meteor shower and the Uai is promoting individual observations, providing information to the public through its website.
