{"id":9,"date":"2025-10-21T11:58:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T11:58:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/astronomynews.site\/?p=9"},"modified":"2025-10-21T11:58:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T11:58:18","slug":"once-in-a-lifetime-sky-show-meteors-rare-comets-and-aurora-on-monday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/astronomynews.site\/?p=9","title":{"rendered":"Once-In-A-Lifetime Sky Show: Meteors, Rare Comets And Aurora On Monday"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"02eb8743c28d6c1e6f2b405980996749\" data-index=\"1\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : 'c8310ef23effe95e5309c38cfaf056e0',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 250,\r\n    'width' : 300,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/passivealexis.com\/c8310ef23effe95e5309c38cfaf056e0\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>The\u00a0Orionid meteor shower\u00a0is set to impress skywatchers overnight on Monday, Oct. 20 through Tuesday, Oct. 21, through. With a new moon on Oct. 21, the night sky will be completely free of moonlight, offering some of the best viewing conditions in years \u2014 though viewing under dark, rural skies is recommended. That goes double this year because\u00a0Comet Lemmon\u00a0(C\/2025 A6) and Comet SWAN (C\/2025 R2) \u2014 may be visible, and a display of\u00a0Northern Lights\u00a0for northern U.S. states is also a possibility.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"embed-base image-embed embed-23\" role=\"presentation\">\n<div class=\"image-embed__placeholder\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imageio.forbes.com\/specials-images\/imageserve\/66bb527e6cc73d13a484edf3\/Dike-sheep-in-front-of-the-northern-lights\/960x0.jpg?format=jpg&amp;width=1440\" alt=\"Dike sheep in front of the northern lights\" \/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"bMqrj\">\n<div class=\"Jp--BF7-\"><span class=\"Ccg9Ib-7 _8XF2kHYM\">Sheep under flickering northern lights (aurora borealis) on the dyke to the North Sea near Hagermarsch (Lower Saxony) in East Frisia on 13.08.2024. (Photo by Matthias Balk\/picture alliance via Getty Images)<\/span><\/div>\n<p><small class=\"pGGCM2aD\">dpa\/picture alliance via Getty Images<\/small><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2>Key Facts<\/h2>\n<div class=\"key-facts\">\n<div class=\"key-facts-element\">\n<p>The Orionids are caused by dust and debris shed by Halley\u2019s Comet, which orbits the sun every 76 years. The comet itself won\u2019t return until 2061.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"key-facts-element\">\n<p>Earth crosses Halley&#8217;s dusty trail each October, with dozens of bright meteors resulting from particles slamming into the atmosphere at high speed. Observers under clear, dark rural skies can expect around 20 meteors per hour during the peak.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"key-facts-element\">\n<p>The meteors will appear to radiate from the constellation Orion, near the brilliant red star Betelgeuse, but can streak across any part of the sky. Orion rises in the east by late evening and climbs highest around 2 a.m., making the early morning hours ideal for viewing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"key-facts-element\">\n<p>Comets Lemmon (C\/2025 A6) and SWAN (C\/2025 R2) are currently visible in binoculars in the northwest and southwest evening sky, respectively, after dark, as a prelude to the meteor shower.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"key-facts-element\">\n<p>There\u2019s also a high chance of Northern Lights after dark in northern U.S. states after high solar activity during the past week.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"subhead-embed color-accent bg-base font-accent font-size text-align\">Will Two Comets Be Visible?<\/h2>\n<p>This year\u2019s peak may come with a rare bonus, with comets Lemmon and SWAN best seen during a 30-minute window beginning about 90 minutes after sunset. If they brightens enough, they could be visible to the naked eye from dark rural skies, though more likely in binoculars. The comets\u2019 positions in the night sky will change significantly from night to night, so\u00a0check my feed\u00a0every day for a daily \u201ccomet tracker\u201d with finder charts and tips for viewing from mid-northern latitudes.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"subhead-embed color-accent bg-base font-accent font-size text-align\">How To Watch A Meteor Shower<\/h2>\n<p>You don&#8217;t need anything except your naked eyes to watch a meteor shower. In fact, if you do have binoculars or a telescope, use them only for the comets because it will only restrict your vision and make it near-impossible to see any meteors. For meteors, the darker the sky, the better. Head at least 20 to 30 miles from city limits to escape light pollution, according to\u00a0NASA, and give your eyes 20\u201330 minutes to adjust to the dark. Orion will rise after midnight, with the early hours of Oct. 22 likely to see the most \u201cshooting stars.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"subhead-embed color-accent bg-base font-accent font-size text-align\">High Chance Of Northern Lights<\/h2>\n<p>There\u2019s a good chance that Northern Lights will be visible in northern U.S. states and Canada on Monday, Oct. 20. Geomagnetic activity has been high for several nights after two coronal mass ejections traveled towards Earth from the sun\u2019s surface. Watch NOAA\u2019s latest\u00a0aurora viewlines\u00a0for where the Northern Lights may be visible in the northern sky, with likely states including Alaska and (northerly parts of) Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York and Maine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The\u00a0Orionid meteor shower\u00a0is set to impress skywatchers overnight on Monday, Oct. 20 through Tuesday, Oct. 21, through. With a new moon on Oct. 21, the night sky will be completely free of moonlight, offering some of the best viewing conditions in years \u2014 though viewing under dark, rural skies is recommended. That goes double this\u2026 <span class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/astronomynews.site\/?p=9\">Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-astronomy"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/astronomynews.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/astronomynews.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/astronomynews.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/astronomynews.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/astronomynews.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/astronomynews.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10,"href":"https:\/\/astronomynews.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9\/revisions\/10"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/astronomynews.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/astronomynews.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/astronomynews.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}