Orionids meteor shower 2026 and 2027

What the Orionids are

The Orionids are dust from Halley’s Comet. Each time the comet passes the Sun, roughly every 76 years, it sheds ice and rocky grains along its orbit. Earth crosses that debris twice a year: in May, when it produces the Eta Aquariids, and in October, when it produces the Orionids. Halley was last seen by the public in 1986 and returns in 2061, according to NASA.

The radiant lies just north of Betelgeuse, the reddish star at Orion’s shoulder. The constellation only names the shower; the meteors burn up about 50 to 75 miles above the ground.

What they look like

Orionids rank among the fastest meteors of the year. NASA notes that fast meteors like these can leave glowing trains, incandescent bits of debris in the meteor’s wake that last for several seconds to minutes, and that some Orionids become fireballs. The setting helps too: the meteors appear against the bright winter stars of Orion, Taurus and Gemini, which are rising in the east during the late-night hours.

How to watch from the US

The radiant lies close to the celestial equator, so the whole US sees the shower well, from Alaska to Puerto Rico. Orion rises in the east in the late evening. The International Meteor Organization (IMO) says the radiant reaches a useful height from around local midnight, a little earlier for northern observers. It is highest shortly before dawn, so our best hours for each city fall in the second half of the night.

NASA suggests lying back with your feet toward the southeast and taking in as much of the sky as possible. Allow about half an hour for your eyes to adapt, and keep phones dimmed. Our guide to watching a meteor shower has more on preparation.

The Orionids rarely have a sharp peak. IMO says the maximum is usually broad, sometimes with several lesser peaks, and activity can be similar for several nights in a row. If clouds or the Moon spoil the peak night, try the nights on either side.

Notable history

From 2006 to 2009, the Orionids produced unexpectedly strong returns, with ZHRs of about 40 to 70 on two or three nights in a row, according to IMO. The ZHR, or zenithal hourly rate, is the count expected under a perfectly dark sky with the radiant straight overhead. An earlier IMO study of 1984 to 2001 found that the yearly peak varied between about 14 and 31, and the average maximum from 2012 to 2020 was 20 to 30.

A 12-year cycle in stronger returns was claimed early in the 20th century. IMO says visual data don’t show it, but Canadian radar data since 2002 appear to, and it considers the question unresolved.

2026 and 2027 outlook

2026 (past). IMO listed the maximum on October 21 and noted that the waxing Moon left some moon-free hours before dawn through the peak.

2027. IMO expects the maximum on October 22 with a bright waning Moon in Gemini, close to the radiant, lighting the sky for most of the hours when Orion is up. Only the brighter Orionids will show.

IMO also describes a separate possibility on October 23 and 24, 2027, unrelated to the Orionids: Earth may pass through several dust trails from comet 15P/Finlay, according to modeling by Maslov. Some trails could give ZHRs of “several dozen,” a very rough estimate, from a radiant in Scorpius with very slow meteors. IMO says the best locations are in the Southern Hemisphere, and the radiant is too far south to be well placed for most of the US. See the 2027 calendar for details.