Stars will shoot across the sky tonight.
Although the Orionid meteor shower has been active for the whole month of October it will be at its most vivid between midnight and dawn tonight (Thursday 21 – Friday 22). So, how do we see this stunning celestial display? Well, tonight’s full moon is going to make things a little difficult because its brightness is likely to obscure our view of the meteor shower. However, we should still be able to see the brightest stars and it’s bound to be beautiful.
Approximately 20 meteors will be visible every hour, and if you miss it tonight then there’s a possibility you’ll still be able to see in in the early hours of Saturday too. These meteors are actually pieces of Halley’s Comet and the comet itself is only visible from Earth every 75-76 so these are pieces of something pretty profound.
If you’d like to maximise your chances of seeing the comet tonight then you need to get away from city lights and out into nature in the early hours of the morning. We’re lucky enough to have 2 international dark sky parks in the Netherlands but they’re both 2 or so hours from Amsterdam if you’re driving – Lauwersmeer National Park and De Boschplaat. However, anywhere with minimal artificial lighting will do.
You don’t need any special equipment to see the meteor shower – the naked eye will do. Then you just need to wait and you’ll soon see tons of shooting stars across the sky.