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The Orionids, dust from Halley’s Comet, peak on 21 October 2026 with about 10–20 fast meteors per hour. A bright Moon sets around 02:45 in Vienna and 03:00 in Istanbul, so the dark hours before dawn are your best window.
Meteor shower · Orionids 2026
The Orionid meteor shower peaks on 21 October 2026, around 18:00 UTC. The good news: it is not a one-night show. The peak is a broad plateau, so the nights around 20–23 October all bring shooting stars. Under a dark sky you can expect roughly 10 to 20 meteors per hour. Not a storm, but a lovely, relaxed night out.
Here is the catch, and a friendly one. A bright Moon, about 81% lit, shines on the evening of 21 October. Don’t cancel your plans! It sets in the small hours, and after that the sky is properly dark.
Every Orionid is a tiny grain of dust left behind by Halley’s Comet (1P/Halley). Halley returns every 76 years or so, last in 1986, but its dust trail stays in our neighbourhood. Each October Earth ploughs through it. The same comet also feeds the Eta Aquariids in May.
The grains hit our air at about 66 km/s and burn up in a flash. That speed makes Orionids fast and sharp. Many leave a glowing trail that hangs for a second or more, and now and then you get a bright fireball.
Top: Orionids seem to fan out from a point near Orion’s club, just northeast of Betelgeuse. Bottom: the night from 20:00 to 06:00. The Moon is up until about 02:45 in Vienna (about 03:00 in Istanbul); the dark window runs from moonset to the first light of dawn.
Wait for the Moon to set. On the morning of 22 October that happens at about 02:45 in Vienna and about 03:00 in Istanbul. From then until dawn twilight begins, around 05:30–06:00 local time, the sky is dark and Orion is high in the south.
The radiant only rises around local midnight, so the early evening is quiet. At 04:00 in Vienna it stands about 54° up; at 05:00 in Istanbul about 64°. The nights before and after the peak are good too.
You don’t have to stare at Orion. Look at a wide patch of sky about 30–45° away from the radiant. Trails look longer there. Then trace a streak backwards: if it points to Orion, you caught an Orionid.
Orion is easy to find. Look for the three stars of his belt, then for red Betelgeuse above them. The radiant sits just northeast of it, between Orion and Gemini.
Get away from city lights if you can. Give your eyes 20–30 minutes to adapt to the dark and keep your phone screen off. Lie back in a reclining chair or on a mat.
You need no telescope or binoculars, just patience. Dress warm: October nights get cold when you sit still. A flask of something hot helps.
Want the dates of other showers and the sky details for your place? Open Astrometrik’s meteor page for the calendar and what is up tonight.
The Orionids peak on 21 October 2026 at about 18:00 UTC. The shower is active from early October to early November, with a broad plateau around 20–23 October.
Under a dark sky, roughly 10 to 20 meteors per hour. Some past years were much busier, but nothing like that is expected this time.
Partly. A bright Moon, about 81% lit, is up in the evening of 21 October, but it sets at about 02:45 in Vienna and 03:00 in Istanbul. After that the sky is dark until dawn.
From moonset, about 02:45–03:00, until dawn twilight at roughly 05:30–06:00 local time. Orion is high in the south then, so more meteors appear.
They are dust from Halley’s Comet. Earth crosses its trail every October, and the grains burn up at about 66 km/s.
Look at a wide patch of sky 30–45° away from Orion’s club, which is just northeast of Betelgeuse. Meteors there leave longer trails. No telescope is needed.
Peak date, rates and speed follow EarthSky’s Orionid guide. Radiant altitudes and moonset times for Vienna and Istanbul come from an Astronomy Engine calculation.
Positions and times were recalculated with Astronomy Engine, the sky-calculation library Astrometrik uses; times for Vienna and Istanbul are local time. The artwork on this page was drawn by Astrometrik.