A meteor shower will be lighting up the night sky this weekend. The Orionids Meteor Shower will peak after midnight on October 20, 2023. The peak will last through Sunday, October 22, 2023.

Fast Facts:

WHAT: The Orionid Meteor Shower
WHEN: October 20-23, 2023
TIME: Visible after midnight, peaks early morning hours
WHERE: Look to the east toward Orion the Hunter constellation

Through the weekend, as many as 80 meteors per hour will be possible. However, NASA says it is more realistic to see 20-25 per hour in the Ozarks. You will want to look east, toward Orion the Hunter constellation (the easiest way to find Orion is to look for the three-star belt). The American Meteor Society says to angle your eyes halfway up to the sky.

The best time to view the Orionids Meteor Shower will be in the early morning hours, between 2:00 a.m. and sunrise. Anyone in the United States will be able to view the meteor shower, barring cloudy weather. The Ozarks is expected to see clear to partly cloudy skies, making it a perfect time to view the meteor shower.

The Orionids come from Halley’s Comet, which last orbited the Earth in 1986. The particles left behind, or the space dirt, became the Orionids.