AUBURN, Ala. (EETV) - On Monday and Tuesday, a meteor shower from Halley's Comet will be visible, but the comet won't be seen for another few decades.
"Each time the comet passes through it leaves some material behind, but it takes about 76 years to complete an orbit, so we won’t see it again for another few decades, the comet itself," said Auburn University physics lecturer Melissa Halford.
According to Halford, several meteor showers occur annually, and viewers can see the trails left behind from comets. She said that when comets pass through the solar system, they leave pieces behind and we see the meteor, or bright flashes of light, when Earth orbits through the trail of tiny material burning in the atmosphere.
"This one in particular is from Halley’s Comet which is a pretty well-known one that was very brightly visible in the sky back in the 1980s. Every year we pass through its trail in October. The time when we pass through the densest part of the material, when we’re seeing the most stuff burn up in the atmosphere, this year is Oct. 21-22, so that’s when it’s best to view," said Halford.
Halford shared advice for people interested in viewing the meteor shower, and she said it is best to go without a telescope, so you can see the wide area of the sky through which meteors come from.
"For viewing a meteor shower, the best thing to do is to try and find a reasonably dark site, so if you can get a little bit away from lights that’s always helpful," she said. "What you want to do is find something comfortable where you can either sit down and look up or lay back and look up into the sky. In order to do that, you’d also want to be away from any large obstructions like buildings or trees so you can have a wide view of the sky."
Halford said the best time to view the meteor shower is late in the evening or during the early morning because of the direction the Earth travels in its orbit.
"Unfortunately with the Orionids this year, the moon will be up, and compared to other things in the sky, the moon is quite bright and not ideal for observing, so it will be up in the early morning this year. The Orionids are called the Orionids because the radiant—the point where all the meteors look like they’re coming from—is in the constellation Orion. Orion is not up until early morning at this time of year," Halford said.
