Orionids in Taurus
Image Credit &
Copyright:
David Cortner
History's first known periodic comet,
Comet
Halley (1P/Halley),
returns to the inner Solar System every 76 years or so.
The famous comet made its last appearance to the naked-eye in 1986.
But dusty debris from Comet Halley
can be seen raining through planet Earth's skies
twice a year during two annual meteor showers, the
Eta Aquarids in May
and the
Orionids in October.
In fact,
an unhurried series
of exposures captured these two bright meteors,
vaporizing bits of Halley dust,
during the early morning hours of October 23
against a starry background along the Taurus molecular cloud.
Impacting the atmosphere at about 66 kilometers per second their
greenish
streaks point back to the
shower's radiant just north
of Orion's bright star Betelgeuse off the lower left side of
the frame.
The familiar Pleiades
star cluster anchors the dusty celestial scene at
the right.