By Stephanie Holz, Staff Writer
Keep your eyes on the skies! On October 21st, the earth will have the perfect opportunity to view the Orionid meteor shower. Meteor showers come from comets which burn up and fall apart as they approach the sun, sending tiny particles into space. When earth passes through the debris of the comet, the particles burn up in the atmosphere to produce the brightly colored streaks of light we call shooting stars.
“The shooting stars we wish upon are just balls of junk like sand and rocks burning up in our atmosphere,” said Dr. Jacqueline Robbins.
While moving through space, the particles are called meteoroids. When they enter the earth’s atmosphere, they are called meteors. Meteors tend to burn up 60-80 miles above the surface of the earth; however, if a particle manages to hit the surface of the earth, it is called a meteorite.
“Meteor showers are very fun to watch,” said Christina Hartley, a biomedical major. “You get so wrapped up in watching them fly by that you forget just how dangerous they can be.”
To view a meteor shower, simply go outside, away from bright lights, and look up towards the constellation the meteor shower is named after. This point is called the radiant, where the meteors seem to come from as the night goes on. Best viewing occurs between 12am and 6am as the earth faces the radiant, making the meteors appear to shoot higher across the sky rather than at the horizon.
A free app called Google Sky Map can help you find the radiant and pick out constellations to make the shower easier to locate. The app also features the option to light the screen with red light in order to preserve night vison. Looking at any other color of light causes the pupils to dilate, making it harder to see at night until your eyes readjust. It generally takes around 15 minutes for your eyes to completely adjust to the darkness.
In case you miss the Orionids, two other meteor showers will be visible this year. These include the Leonids overnight November 16th and the Geminids which can be seen on the night of December 13th.
