Orionid Meteors

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Some high-speed bullets are firing across the night sky this week. They’re the bits of debris that produce the Orionid meteor shower – small pebbles left behind by Comet Halley. They hit the atmosphere at about 150,000 miles per hour. They vaporize almost instantly, forming the glowing streaks known as meteors. Halley visits the inner solar system once every 76 years or so. On each approach, the Sun’s heat vaporizes some of its frozen surface. That releases bits of rock and dirt. Over time, they spread out along the comet’s orbit. Earth flies through this path twice a year, sweeping up some of the particles. But the comet dust isn’t evenly spread out. Halley produces a new “streamer” with…