Orionids 2026: peak time and the best hour to watch

Halley's Comet: why the Orionids happen

Every Orionid is a speck of Comet 1P/Halley. Each time Halley swings past the Sun, about every 76 years, sunlight warms its icy nucleus and releases dust that spreads out along its orbit. Over thousands of years that dust has formed a broad, thin stream. In late October the Earth passes through the edge of it, and the grains burn up in our atmosphere as the Orionids. The comet itself was last near the Sun in 1986 and is due back in 2061, but its debris returns every October.

Halley's stream gives us two showers a year. The Earth also passes near the comet's orbit in early May, on the opposite side of the Sun, and that encounter produces the Eta Aquariids, which next peak around May 6, 2027, best seen from the Southern Hemisphere and the tropics before dawn. Both showers share the same speed, 66 km/s, because they are the same dust, met at two points of one orbit.

Why the meteors come from Orion

Halley orbits the Sun the opposite way to the planets, so its dust meets the Earth almost head on. That is why Orionids are so fast, and why their radiant lies in the direction the Earth is heading in October, towards Orion. The grains travel on parallel paths, and perspective makes them seem to spread out from one point, about 11° northeast of Betelgeuse, Orion's red shoulder star, close to the border with Gemini. The radiant drifts eastward by roughly a degree every day or two during the activity period (from about RA 85° in early October to 105° in early November, per the IMO), so charts for other dates show it in slightly different places.

Some years are much better

In a normal year the Orionids give 10 to 20 meteors an hour at the peak. But because the stream is made of many old dust trails, some shepherded by Jupiter's gravity, some years are richer: in 2006 to 2009 observers saw rates of 50 to 75 an hour, comparable with the Perseids. Nobody has predicted an outburst for 2026, so plan for a normal year and count yourself lucky if it is better.

When is the Orionid peak in 2026?

The Orionids peak when the Earth reaches solar longitude 208 degrees. In 2026 we calculate that moment as October 21, 18:28 UTC (Wed, Oct 21, 2:28 PM in New York, Wed, Oct 21, 7:28 PM in London, Thu, Oct 22, 5:28 AM in Sydney). The maximum is broad, about a day, so the timing matters less than with sharp showers like the Quadrantids. The American Meteor Society and NASA both give the peak night as October 21 to 22.

Australia and East Asia have the peak itself in their pre-dawn sky: in Sydney the best hour, 4:33 AM, falls within an hour of the exact maximum. Europe and the Americas get the following morning, still well inside the broad maximum.

Why the Orionids are a pre-dawn shower

The Orionid radiant does not rise until about 10:16 PM in New York, and it climbs highest, about 65° up, just before dawn. That matches the general rule for meteor showers: after midnight your side of the Earth faces forward along its orbit and sweeps up more dust, like a windscreen in the rain. In 2026 the Moon adds a second reason to wait, because it sets at about 3:12 AM. From Los Angeles the radiant reaches 72° at the best hour, higher than from New York or London, which gives a few more meteors an hour.

What Orionids look like

Orionids hit the atmosphere at about 66 km per second (41 miles a second), one of the fastest of any shower; only the Leonids, at 71, are clearly faster. They are quick, sharp streaks, and the brighter ones often leave a persistent train, a faint glowing trail of ionised gas that hangs in the sky for a second or more after the meteor has gone. Occasional fireballs are possible.

How to watch the Orionids in 2026

1. Pick your morning. Before dawn on Thursday October 22 is best, with Wednesday October 21 a close second. The days either side also show some Orionids.
2. Wait for moonset. The Moon sets at about 3:12 AM where you are; start then and watch until the sky brightens.
3. Go somewhere dark. A rural sky shows about three times as many meteors as a suburb. Even 30 minutes' drive from a city helps.
4. Adapt your eyes. Give them 20 minutes in the dark, and keep your phone dim or red.
5. Look up and away. Face the darkest part of the sky and look about halfway up, roughly 45 degrees from Orion. Lying back on a reclining chair is easiest.
6. Stay at least an hour. Rates are modest, so meteors may come in bunches with quiet gaps. Dress warmly: late October nights get cold.

Photographing the Orionids

Use a wide-angle lens on a tripod, the widest aperture you have, ISO 1600 to 3200 and exposures of 10 to 20 seconds, and shoot continuously after moonset. Orion and the winter Milky Way make a striking backdrop; a frame with Orion in it and a meteor pointing away from it tells the story.

Sources

• International Meteor Organization, Meteor Shower Calendar (J. Rendtel), working list of visual showers: Orionids (008 ORI) active October 2 to November 7, maximum at solar longitude 208°, radiant RA 95° Dec +16°, 66 km/s, r = 2.5, ZHR 20, and the radiant drift table. imo.net
• American Meteor Society, Meteor Shower Calendar 2026-2027: Orionids active October 2 to November 7, 2026, peak night October 21 to 22, 10 to 20 an hour in a normal year and 50 to 75 in exceptional years. amsmeteors.org
• NASA Science, Orionids: 66 km/s (41 miles a second), parent comet 1P/Halley, 10 to 20 an hour, Halley last seen in 1986 and next in 2061, and the Eta Aquariid link. science.nasa.gov
• Peak time, Moon phase, moonset, radiant rise and best hour: calculated by whatsupsky with astronomy-engine (D. Cross, MIT licence) from the IMO solar longitude and radiant.

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