Orionid Meteor Shower 2022
The Orionid meteor shower is a bit of an old friend. I casually observed lots of Orionids in 1993, and since then I've tried to get out for it whenever conditions warranted. It's been a mixed bag. The Orionids produced more than double their normal rates in 2006 and 2007, and I saw lots of them in 2010 as well. Other years have featured much lower numbers, such that I add this disclaimer to my annual meteor shower outlook: I never know what to expect from this shower. I wasn't sure how much time I was going to dedicate to the Orionids this year. Work has been a bear and my dad ended up in the hospital on October 18th. But the good thing about meteor observing is that it uses hours that we normally don't need for anything other than sleep, and in October darkness lingers late enough that it's possible to get a decent amount of sleep before waking up to do a meteor watch. The forecast was promising for Thursday and Friday mornings, October 20th and 21st. The nominal s...