Orionid meteor shower 2026: how to watch the Oct 21-22 peak

Key takeaways

• The Orionid meteor shower peaks on the night of 21-22 October 2026, according to NASA and the American Meteor Society (AMS). The shower runs from 2 October to 7 November.
• Under dark, moonless skies a single observer can expect roughly 10 to 20 meteors per hour, NASA says. Light pollution and moonlight cut that number sharply.
• A waxing gibbous Moon, about 74% lit according to the AMS, will brighten the sky for the first part of the night. The best window is after moonset and before dawn.
• Look 45 to 90 degrees away from the radiant, which sits just north of the bright star Betelgeuse in Orion. You don't need a telescope or binoculars.
• The meteors are tiny pieces of debris shed by Halley's Comet (1P/Halley). They hit Earth's atmosphere at about 66 km (41 miles) per second.

The Orionid meteor shower 2026 peaks on the night of 21-22 October. Go out after moonset and before dawn, look 45 to 90 degrees away from the radiant near Betelgeuse in Orion, and expect roughly 10 to 20 meteors per hour under dark skies.

When is the Orionid peak in 2026?

NASA lists the Orionids as active from 2 October to 7 November 2026, with the peak on the night of 21-22 October. The AMS meteor shower calendar gives the same activity window and peak night. Exact timing estimates differ a little. EarthSky, citing the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada's Observer's Handbook, puts the predicted maximum at about 18:00 UTC on 21 October. It also notes that the Orionids have a broad, plateau-like maximum, so the mornings either side of the peak can also be productive.

That broad maximum matters in practice. If clouds or work get in the way tonight, the pre-dawn hours of 22 and 23 October should still produce meteors. Rates will be somewhat lower, and the Moon will set later each night.

Key numbers at a glance

The Moon: work around it, not against it

The biggest obstacle this year is moonlight. The AMS calendar shows the Moon about 74% illuminated on peak night. It expects significant interference while the Moon is above the horizon, though brighter meteors will still show through. EarthSky also describes a bright waxing gibbous Moon in the sky after midnight. Full Moon follows on 26 October.

The good news is that a waxing gibbous Moon sets in the early hours of the morning. That leaves a dark gap before sunrise, and it overlaps with the time the Orionid radiant climbs highest. Published estimates for moonset at mid-northern latitudes range from a little after 2 a.m. local time (Space.com) to around 3 a.m. (Farmers' Almanac). The exact time depends on your latitude and longitude. Check a local almanac or planetarium app for your location, then plan to be outside from moonset until the sky starts to brighten before dawn.

If you can only go out earlier in the night, face away from the Moon. Keep it behind you or blocked by a building or tree so it doesn't glare in your eyes. You will mostly see the brighter meteors, but the Orionids produce a fair share of those.

How many meteors can you realistically expect?

Headline rates can mislead. NASA's figure of about 10 to 20 meteors per hour assumes a dark site with no Moon and the radiant high in the sky. Farmers' Almanac gives a slightly higher range of 15 to 25 per hour for dark rural skies. It estimates that suburban observers dealing with light pollution may see only 5 to 10 per hour. The AMS notes that recent Orionid displays have produced "low to average activity."

The shower has surprised observers before. The AMS and EarthSky both point to the years 2006 to 2009, when peak rates reached roughly 50 to 75 per hour, comparable to the August Perseids. Nobody is forecasting a repeat this year. The record is a reminder that meteor streams are clumpy, and actual rates can differ from predictions in either direction.

Meteors also tend to arrive in uneven bursts. You might see three in two minutes and then nothing for a quarter of an hour. Give yourself at least an hour outside rather than a quick ten-minute look.

Step-by-step: how to watch the Orionids

1. Check the weather and moonset time. Clear skies matter more than anything else. Look up tonight's cloud forecast and the moonset time for your town.
2. Get away from lights. NASA advises watching from a dark place away from city lights. Even a short drive out of town can multiply the number of meteors you see. A park or field with an open view of the sky is ideal.
3. Go out after midnight, ideally after moonset. NASA says the shower is best viewed after midnight and continues until dawn. The radiant rises before midnight and climbs higher towards morning, so the hours before twilight usually give the best rates.
4. Dress for the cold and lie back. Bring a reclining chair, mat, or sleeping bag. NASA suggests lying flat on your back with your feet pointing southeast if you are in the Northern Hemisphere, or northeast if you are in the Southern Hemisphere, and taking in as much sky as possible.
5. Let your eyes adjust. Allow about 30 minutes for your eyes to adapt to the dark, NASA says. Avoid looking at your phone. If you need light, use a dim red light, which disturbs night vision less than white light.
6. Be patient. Stay out for an hour or more. Rates change with the radiant's height, the sky's darkness, and chance.

Where to look in the sky

The Orionids take their name from their radiant, the point in the sky they seem to come from. NASA places it just north of Betelgeuse, the reddish star that marks one of Orion's shoulders. Farmers' Almanac describes the spot as near the Hunter's upraised club. Orion itself has nothing to do with the meteors. The radiant is simply a perspective effect. Debris travelling on parallel paths seems to spread out from a single point, much as parallel railway tracks seem to meet in the distance.

You don't need to stare at Orion. NASA says meteors look longer and more impressive 45 to 90 degrees away from the radiant, while those near it appear short and stubby. A good approach is to locate Orion, then look at a broad patch of dark sky well away from it, away from the Moon and any glow on the horizon. Any meteor whose trail traces back towards Orion is probably an Orionid. Others are sporadic meteors or members of minor showers active at the same time.

The shower can be seen from both hemispheres, because Orion sits near the celestial equator. Observers in the Southern Hemisphere see the constellation "upside down" compared with northern viewers, but the same advice applies: find a dark site, wait for the Moon to set, and look at a wide area of sky.

Photographing the Orionids

Smartphones with night modes can now capture bright meteors, but the odds improve with a camera on a tripod. Use a wide-angle lens, the widest aperture available, and exposures of several seconds to about half a minute, shooting continuously. Point the camera at a dark part of the sky roughly 45 degrees from Orion, the same zone NASA recommends for the naked eye. Expect many empty frames. Meteor photography is a numbers game, and the Moon will limit exposure lengths until it sets.

Why the meteors come from Halley's Comet

Each Orionid is a fragment of Comet 1P/Halley, according to NASA. Halley orbits the Sun about once every 76 years. As it nears the Sun, its icy nucleus warms and sheds dust and small rocky particles. Over many orbits, this debris spreads along the comet's path. Earth's orbit crosses that stream each October.

When the particles meet Earth's atmosphere at about 66 km per second, NASA says, friction and compression heat them, and the air around them glows. That speed is why Orionids look so swift. Most particles are far smaller than a pebble and burn up completely high in the atmosphere. NASA notes that the fast meteors can sometimes become fireballs, meteors brighter than the planet Venus. Farmers' Almanac estimates that about one Orionid in 30 is a fireball.

Halley's Comet itself was last visible to casual observers in 1986, and NASA says it will next return to the inner solar system in 2061. Until then, the Orionids offer an annual glimpse of material it left behind. Many of tonight's particles were likely shed centuries ago.

Comets and meteors are not the only small bodies scientists want to study up close. Japan's MMX spacecraft, launched on an H3 rocket from Tanegashima, aims to land on the Martian moon Phobos and bring at least 10 grams of soil back to Earth in 2031; see our explainer on JAXA's MMX mission.

What it means

For skywatchers, 2026 is a compromise year. The Moon is bright enough to wash out fainter meteors for much of the night. However, it sets before the most favourable pre-dawn hours, when the radiant is high. People who plan their outing around their local moonset, travel to a dark site, and stay out for an hour or more still have a reasonable chance of seeing a steady trickle of fast, bright meteors. Those watching from city centres or only in the evening should expect a modest show at best.

The broad maximum also gives some flexibility. If tonight is cloudy, the following one or two mornings remain worth trying. For anyone who misses the Orionids entirely, the AMS calendar lists the year's remaining showers, including the Leonids in November and the Geminids in December.

Sources

• NASA Science: Orionids
• American Meteor Society: Meteor Shower Calendar
• EarthSky: Orionid meteor shower guide
• Farmers' Almanac: Orionid Meteor Shower 2026
• Space.com: How to see the Orionid meteor shower 2026 peak