The 2022 Orionid meteor shower put on a show for skywatchers around the world (gallery)
Samil Cabrera captured this image of an Orionid meteor streaking over the Atlantic Ocean on Oct. 21, 2022 at Jekyll Island, Georgia. Be sure to check out Cabrera's Instagram page for more astrophotography at https://www.instagram.com/astronycc/.
(Image credit: Samil Cabrera)
The Orionids put on quite a show this year.
This year's Orionid meteor shower saw optimal conditions for catching brilliant Orionid fireballs streak overhead, as the moon was only 17% illuminated in a waning crescent phase during the shower's peak overnight from Oct. 20 to Oct. 21.
As their name implies, the Orionids appear to originate in the Orion constellation, near the "club" held by Orion, the hunter. In the Northern Hemisphere, these meteors appear in the southwestern sky, while skywatchers in the Southern Hemisphere can see them in the northwestern sky.
Related: Meteor showers 2022: Where, when and how to see them
The Orionid meteor shower is one of the more reliable meteor showers and is known to produce dozens of meteors per hour. This shower is perhaps one of the best-known meteor showers, due to the fact that it is produced in October each year as Earth passes through the debris left in the wake of Halley's Comet.
As these fragments of the comet enter Earth's atmosphere, their high speed ignites the air in front of them due to the effects of drag (friction), creating brilliant streaks of light that can last up to several seconds as they appear to "shoot" across the sky.
Space.com received numerous photos of this year's Orionid meteor shower submitted by our readers. As you can see, this year's shower produced some stunning fireballs that many skywatchers were lucky enough to catch on camera.
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Daniel McCartney caught this image of an Orionid streaking across the sky above upstate New York on Oct. 22, 2022.
(Image credit: Daniel McCartney)
Joe Wiggins of Centennial, Colorado, captured the streak of an Orionid passing overhead in Pike National Forest outside of Denver. "A nice long greenish streak. Clear and a bit cool but a beautiful night. I saw about a dozen meteors over an hour," Wiggins wrote.
(Image credit: Joe Wiggins)
First of two images of Orionid meteors in the night sky above Thomasville, North Carolina, taken by Heather Conner. "Amateur photographer here, but I did manage to capture two meteors," Conner wrote. "Such an amazing experience being out in the quiet under all those stars in anticipation of capturing the fireballs!"
(Image credit: Heather Conner)
Second of two images of Orionid meteors in the night sky above Thomasville, North Carolina, taken by Heather Conner.
(Image credit: Heather Conner)
First of two photographs of Orionid meteors taken above western Colorado on Oct. 22, 2022 by photographer Tommy Sands. "Shot on a Nikon D850, 24mm lens, f4.5, ISO 8000, 10 second exposures. Taken between 04:17 and 05:03 MST," Sands wrote.
(Image credit: Tommy Sands)
Second of two photographs of Orionid meteors taken above western Colorado on Oct. 22, 2022 by photographer Tommy Sands.
(Image credit: Tommy Sands)
Matt Chamberlain got this photo of an Orionid meteor using his cellphone on Oct. 23, 2022. "I don't have an SLR lens wide enough to get the patch of the sky I wanted so I set up my phone on a tripod," Chamberlain wrote. "It was a Samsung S22 Ultra using the Ultra Wide angle lens."
(Image credit: Matt Chamberlain)
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