Orionid meteor shower 2026: best time and where to look

The Orionid meteor shower peaks around 21 October 2026. The International Meteor Organization (IMO) lists the maximum on that date, with a ZHR of 20 or more: the number one person would see in an hour under a perfect sky with the radiant overhead. Real skies give fewer. The American Meteor Society (AMS) names the night of 21 to 22 October as the peak night.

The Moon is the main problem this year. It is a bright waxing gibbous Moon (more than half lit and growing) that sets after midnight, so the best time is from moonset until the sky starts to brighten. In the five cities we checked, the Moon sets roughly 30 to 80 minutes later each night. Of the three nights we compared, 20 to 21 October has the longest Moon-free window everywhere, and 21 to 22 October is still good.

The Orionids are dust from Halley's Comet, and they are fast: NASA gives about 66 km per second.

When is the Orionid meteor shower 2026?

The Orionids are active from 2 October to 7 November. The IMO's 2026 calendar puts the maximum on 21 October, at a solar longitude of 208° (a way of measuring Earth's place in its orbit). The AMS names the night of 21 to 22 October.

The IMO gives a date, not an hour. Converting its solar longitude, we get about 18:30 UT on 21 October as a reference time. Treat that as a rough guide, not a forecast: the IMO notes that the Orionids can have several smaller peaks, and activity can stay similar for several nights around the main peak. So any of the nights from 20 to 23 October is worth a try.

For reference, 18:30 UT on 21 October is 2:30 p.m. EDT in New York, 11:30 a.m. PDT in Los Angeles, 7:30 p.m. BST in London, 3:30 a.m. JST on 22 October in Tokyo and 5:30 a.m. AEDT on 22 October in Sydney. Only Tokyo has it during dark, Moon-free hours.

Best time to watch the Orionids where you live

We calculated when the sky is fully dark (the Sun more than 18° below the horizon), the Moon is down and the radiant is more than 10° up. Times are local, rounded to 10 minutes.

Each window starts at the first 10-minute sample with the Moon's centre below the horizon and ends around the start of astronomical twilight, so treat the times as approximate planning times, not exact moonset times. The radiant climbs above 10° between about 10 and 11:30 p.m. in the northern cities and around 1 a.m. in Sydney. At the end of these windows it is roughly 64 to 65° high in New York, 70 to 71° in Los Angeles, 54° in London, 69 to 70° in Tokyo and 39 to 40° in Sydney.

Our advice: go out on the night of 20 to 21 October if the weather allows, and try 21 to 22 October as well. Aim for the end of your city's Moon-free window, before dawn twilight begins, when the radiant is high.

Where to look for the Orionids

The meteors seem to come from a point in Orion, the Hunter, just north of its bright red shoulder star Betelgeuse. That point is the radiant. From North America and Europe, Orion rises in the east late in the evening and stands high in the south-east to south before dawn.

You do not need to stare at the radiant. NASA says it is better to look 45 to 90° away from it: Orionids appear all over the sky, and the ones far from the radiant have longer trails. Lie back and take in as much sky as you can.

In October 2026 there are two easy signposts in the east before dawn: Jupiter, very bright, and the dimmer, reddish Mars. In our New York view at 4:30 a.m. EDT on 22 October, Jupiter is about 31° up in the east and Mars about 40° up, a little higher. Sirius, the brightest star, is below Orion.

How to find the radiant near Betelgeuse

Find Orion first: look for three bright stars in a short, straight row. That is Orion's Belt. On one side of the belt are Orion's two bright shoulder stars (above it, as seen from the Northern Hemisphere); the red-orange one is Betelgeuse. NASA places the Orionid radiant just north of Betelgeuse; in our Stellarium view it is near the border with Gemini.

If you have a phone with you, a free planetarium such as Stellarium Web shows Orion for your own place and time. Keep the screen dim, so your eyes stay used to the dark.

How many Orionids will you see?

The IMO's ZHR of 20 or more is for a perfect sky with the radiant straight overhead. NASA's fact box, citing the AMS and NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office, says about 10 to 20 meteors per hour under dark skies. With the IMO formula and the radiant 60° up, we estimate:

Sky darkness is measured by the faintest star you can see, on a brightness scale called magnitude: the bigger the number, the fainter the star.

• Very dark sky (faintest stars magnitude 6.5): about 17 an hour.
• Rural sky (magnitude 5.5): about 7 an hour.
• Suburban sky (magnitude 4.5): about 3 an hour.

The IMO also says the shower can surprise: from 2006 to 2009 it reached estimated ideal-sky rates (ZHRs) of about 40 to 70 on two or three nights in a row, while the average maximum ZHR from 2012 to 2020 was 20 to 30. For 2026 the IMO lists a ZHR of 20 or more and draws no conclusion about a suspected 12-year cycle of stronger returns.

Orionids are fast, and NASA notes that fast meteors can leave glowing trains (glowing trails left behind) that last a few seconds, and some become fireballs.

Watching the Orionids from the Southern Hemisphere

NASA says the Orionids can be seen from both hemispheres in the hours after midnight. South of the equator, Orion appears upside down, in the north-east to north before dawn.

From Sydney the window is short this year: the Moon sets at about 3:10 a.m. AEDT on 21 October and dawn twilight starts around 4:40 a.m., with the radiant about 39° up by then. Later nights are shorter still. NASA's tip for southern observers is to lie with your feet towards the north-east and look up.

Halley's Comet: where the Orionids come from

Every Orionid is a speck of dust from comet 1P/Halley. Each time Halley comes back to the inner Solar System, NASA explains, its nucleus sheds ice and dust. Earth passes through that dust every October (the Orionids) and again in May (the Eta Aquariids).

Halley takes about 76 years to go around the Sun. It was last seen by casual observers in 1986, and NASA says it will not be back in the inner Solar System until 2061. Until then, you can see meteors made of Halley's dust without waiting for the comet's return.

How to watch the Orionids

1. Check the Moon. Wait until it has set; our Tonight page shows when the Moon is above the horizon in your town. 2. Go dark. Get away from street and city lights. 3. Lie back. NASA suggests lying flat with your feet towards the south-east in the Northern Hemisphere (north-east in the Southern) and taking in as much sky as possible. 4. Give your eyes time. NASA says your eyes adapt in less than 30 minutes in the dark. 5. Stay until dawn. Keep watching until your city's Moon-free window ends, before dawn twilight.

You do not need binoculars or a telescope: NASA's advice is to take in as much of the sky as possible, and binoculars or a telescope show only a small part of it. Dress warmly, as late-October nights can be cold.

Orionid meteor shower FAQ

What is the best time to see the Orionid meteor shower? In 2026, after the Moon sets and before dawn twilight, on the nights of 20 to 21 and 21 to 22 October; aim for the end of the Moon-free window, when the radiant is high. In New York that is about 2:10 to 5:40 a.m. EDT on 21 October, in London 1:40 to 5:40 a.m. BST.

What time is the meteor shower on October 21st? The IMO gives 21 October as the date of the maximum, without an hour. Our conversion gives about 18:30 UT as a rough reference time. More useful: watch from moonset until dawn on the nights around that date.

Is there a meteor shower on October 22nd? Yes. The Orionids are active until 7 November, and the AMS names the night of 21 to 22 October as the peak night.

What direction should I look for the Orionid meteor shower? Anywhere in the sky. The meteors seem to come from Orion, which is high in the south-east to south before dawn in the Northern Hemisphere and in the north in the Southern Hemisphere. NASA suggests looking 45 to 90° away from the radiant.

Where in the sky are the Orionids? Their radiant is just north of Betelgeuse, the red star in Orion's shoulder.

Where can I view the Orionid meteor shower? Anywhere with a clear, dark sky and a wide view. It works in both hemispheres. In our five-city comparison, the radiant is higher at the end of the viewing windows in the four northern cities than in Sydney.

In what states will the meteor shower be visible tonight? During the Orionids' activity period, 2 October to 7 November, from anywhere in the United States with clear skies after midnight; rates are highest on the nights around 21 October. Clouds, moonlight and city lights matter more than which state you are in.

What will be the biggest meteor shower in 2026? The Geminids are a major December shower: the IMO lists a ZHR of 150 for 2026, much higher than the Orionids' 20 or more. See our Geminid guide and the meteor shower calendar.

Is the Orionid meteor shower related to Halley's Comet? Yes. The Orionids are dust from comet 1P/Halley, according to NASA.

How we checked

The dates, ZHR, radiant position, speed and the notes about earlier strong years come from the International Meteor Organization's 2026 Meteor Shower Calendar, edited by Jürgen Rendtel (archived copy, because the IMO website was being rebuilt). The peak night and the Moon at 74 percent come from the American Meteor Society's calendar, read on 8 October 2026; the AMS lists that figure for its peak-night entry. Our own Moon percentages are for different places and mornings; at our estimated reference time our calculation gives about 79 percent. Halley's Comet, the radiant near Betelgeuse, the 10 to 20 meteors per hour, the trains and fireballs and the viewing tips come from NASA's Orionids page, read on 10 October 2026.

For the Moon and darkness we downloaded the positions of the Sun and the Moon from NASA JPL Horizons for New York, Los Angeles, London, Tokyo and Sydney, every 10 minutes from 19 to 24 October 2026. We counted the sky as dark when the Sun was more than 18° below the horizon and the Moon's centre below the horizon, and required the radiant (right ascension 95°, declination +16°) to be more than 10° up; we calculated the radiant's height ourselves. The reference time of about 18:30 UT is our conversion of the IMO solar longitude of 208°, the same method as in our meteor shower calendar; the IMO itself gives only the date. Rates use the IMO formula: rate = ZHR × sin(radiant height) ÷ 2.5^(6.5 − faintest star magnitude). The positions of Jupiter and Mars come from Stellarium and the Astronomy Engine library.

The sky views are our screenshots from Stellarium 26.3, credited as Stellarium asks; the landscape is Guéreins by Fabien Chéreau. The photos are by Jim Vajda and David Wipf (CC BY 2.0), Mike Lewinski (CC BY 4.0) and NASA/W. Liller (public domain); we resized them. None of the images is AI-generated.

More showers: the Leonids peak on 17 November 2026 and the Geminids on 13 to 14 December.