The Orionids peak on the night of 21–22 October. Watch from moonset until first light.
The moon is about 80% lit and sets before dawn in all 87 cities. The radiant, in Orion, stands highest before dawn: from a dark site, expect about 15 meteors an hour at best in most of them, and up to 19 where it climbs highest.
Where you are
Your placeWorked out when the page opens
Dark sky—
The moon—
When to watch—
The radiant—
At a dark site—
The Americas
Atlanta4:01 – 6:24 AM · radiant 72° up · about 16 an hour
Austin3:59 – 6:17 AM · radiant 76° up · about 16 an hour
Bogotá2:35 – 4:30 AM · radiant 78° up · about 17 an hour
Boston2:58 – 5:31 AM · radiant 64° up · about 15 an hour
Buenos Aires3:52 – 4:33 AM · radiant 39° up · about 11 an hour
Chicago3:08 – 5:37 AM · radiant 64° up · about 15 an hour
Dallas3:53 – 6:14 AM · radiant 73° up · about 16 an hour
Denver3:22 – 5:47 AM · radiant 66° up · about 15 an hour
Houston3:49 – 6:07 AM · radiant 76° up · about 16 an hour
Las Vegas3:08 – 5:28 AM · radiant 70° up · about 15 an hour
Lima2:55 – 4:27 AM · radiant 62° up · about 15 an hour
Los Angeles3:22 – 5:40 AM · radiant 72° up · about 16 an hour
Mexico City3:11 – 5:19 AM · radiant 86° up · about 17 an hour
Miami3:49 – 6:06 AM · radiant 80° up · about 17 an hour
Minneapolis3:29 – 6:00 AM · radiant 61° up · about 15 an hour
Montréal3:06 – 5:41 AM · radiant 60° up · about 15 an hour
Nashville3:09 – 5:34 AM · radiant 70° up · about 16 an hour
New Orleans3:27 – 5:46 AM · radiant 76° up · about 16 an hour
New York3:12 – 5:43 AM · radiant 65° up · about 15 an hour
Philadelphia3:18 – 5:48 AM · radiant 66° up · about 15 an hour
Phoenix2:57 – 5:15 AM · radiant 72° up · about 16 an hour
Portland3:32 – 5:57 AM · radiant 60° up · about 14 an hour
Rio de Janeiro2:42 – 3:56 AM · radiant 51° up · about 13 an hour
Salt Lake City3:51 – 6:15 AM · radiant 65° up · about 15 an hour
San Diego3:18 – 5:35 AM · radiant 73° up · about 16 an hour
San Francisco3:37 – 5:57 AM · radiant 68° up · about 15 an hour
Santiago4:42 – 5:25 AM · radiant 40° up · about 11 an hour
São Paulo2:57 – 4:09 AM · radiant 50° up · about 13 an hour
Seattle3:28 – 5:55 AM · radiant 58° up · about 14 an hour
Toronto3:32 – 6:04 AM · radiant 62° up · about 15 an hour
Vancouver3:30 – 5:58 AM · radiant 57° up · about 14 an hour
Washington, DC3:26 – 5:55 AM · radiant 67° up · about 16 an hour
Europe
Amsterdam3:26 – 6:24 AM · radiant 54° up · about 14 an hour
Athens3:26 – 6:12 AM · radiant 68° up · about 17 an hour
Barcelona3:53 – 6:38 AM · radiant 64° up · about 16 an hour
Berlin2:50 – 5:49 AM · radiant 53° up · about 15 an hour
Brussels3:31 – 6:27 AM · radiant 55° up · about 15 an hour
Copenhagen2:48 – 5:50 AM · radiant 50° up · about 14 an hour
Dublin3:12 – 6:08 AM · radiant 53° up · about 14 an hour
Edinburgh2:54 – 5:53 AM · radiant 50° up · about 14 an hour
Hamburg3:03 – 6:02 AM · radiant 52° up · about 14 an hour
Helsinki2:45 – 5:56 AM · radiant 46° up · about 13 an hour
Istanbul3:01 – 5:51 AM · radiant 65° up · about 17 an hour
Lisbon3:43 – 6:23 AM · radiant 67° up · about 16 an hour
London2:49 – 5:44 AM · radiant 54° up · about 15 an hour
Madrid4:18 – 7:02 AM · radiant 65° up · about 16 an hour
Milan3:19 – 6:09 AM · radiant 60° up · about 16 an hour
Moscow2:02 – 5:10 AM · radiant 50° up · about 14 an hour
Munich3:05 – 5:59 AM · radiant 58° up · about 15 an hour
Nice3:29 – 6:17 AM · radiant 62° up · about 16 an hour
Oslo2:46 – 5:53 AM · radiant 46° up · about 13 an hour
Paris3:43 – 6:35 AM · radiant 57° up · about 15 an hour
Porto3:38 – 6:21 AM · radiant 65° up · about 16 an hour
Prague2:50 – 5:47 AM · radiant 56° up · about 15 an hour
Reykjavík2:53 – 5:57 AM · radiant 42° up · about 12 an hour
Rome3:09 – 5:57 AM · radiant 64° up · about 16 an hour
Stockholm2:16 – 5:25 AM · radiant 47° up · about 13 an hour
Venice3:05 – 5:57 AM · radiant 60° up · about 16 an hour
Vienna2:45 – 5:40 AM · radiant 58° up · about 15 an hour
Warsaw2:19 – 5:19 AM · radiant 54° up · about 15 an hour
Zürich3:19 – 6:11 AM · radiant 59° up · about 15 an hour
Africa
Cairo3:02 – 5:41 AM · radiant 76° up · about 18 an hour
Cape Town3:39 – 4:28 AM · radiant 39° up · about 12 an hour
Lagos3:14 – 5:22 AM · radiant 80° up · about 18 an hour
Marrakesh3:44 – 6:18 AM · radiant 74° up · about 17 an hour
Nairobi3:01 – 5:02 AM · radiant 73° up · about 18 an hour
Asia
Bali2:43 – 4:42 AM · radiant 65° up · about 18 an hour
Bangkok2:28 – 4:58 AM · radiant 87° up · about 19 an hour
Beijing1:57 – 5:01 AM · radiant 66° up · about 18 an hour
Bengaluru2:33 – 4:59 AM · radiant 86° up · about 19 an hour
Delhi2:22 – 5:07 AM · radiant 77° up · about 19 an hour
Hong Kong2:24 – 5:07 AM · radiant 83° up · about 19 an hour
Kyoto1:42 – 4:43 AM · radiant 71° up · about 19 an hour
Mumbai2:48 – 5:21 AM · radiant 86° up · about 19 an hour
Osaka1:43 – 4:44 AM · radiant 71° up · about 19 an hour
Seoul2:16 – 5:19 AM · radiant 68° up · about 18 an hour
Shanghai1:46 – 4:40 AM · radiant 75° up · about 19 an hour
Singapore3:23 – 5:36 AM · radiant 75° up · about 19 an hour
Taipei1:51 – 4:38 AM · radiant 81° up · about 19 an hour
Tel Aviv2:46 – 5:27 AM · radiant 74° up · about 18 an hour
Tokyo1:25 – 4:28 AM · radiant 70° up · about 19 an hour
Oceania
Auckland4:05 – 4:55 AM · radiant 36° up · about 11 an hour
Brisbane2:24 – 3:44 AM · radiant 46° up · about 14 an hour
Honolulu3:14 – 5:15 AM · radiant 84° up · about 16 an hour
Melbourne4:08 – 4:51 AM · radiant 35° up · about 11 an hour
Perth3:00 – 4:03 AM · radiant 41° up · about 13 an hour
Sydney3:38 – 4:37 AM · radiant 39° up · about 13 an hour
How it is worked out
The showerThe International Meteor Organization puts the Orionids’ rate at 20 an hour at the peak, for a radiant overhead under a perfectly dark sky. The rate here falls away on either side of the peak as the organization’s profile does.
The radiantThe radiant is the point the meteors seem to come from, in Orion, at +16° of declination. The higher it stands, the more meteors reach your sky: the rate here is the shower’s times the sine of its height.
The dark and the moonDark is the sun 18° below the horizon. The moon’s light hides the fainter meteors, so the hours to watch are the dark ones after it sets, read through the night to the minute.
Your own skyThe rates are for a dark site with a clear sky. Street lights hide most meteors, so a town shows far fewer, and cloud shows none.
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