# Orionid Meteor Shower 2026: Peak Dates and Where to Watch

The Orionid meteor shower peaks October 21 to 22, 2026, with a 74 percent moon. Radiant, rates, the Halley's Comet link, and top US and Canada spots.

The Orionid meteor shower peaks the night of October 21 to 22, 2026, running from October 2 through November 7, 2026, [per the American Meteor Society (AMS)](https://amsmeteors.org/meteor-showers/meteor-shower-calendar/). Under a dark sky you can expect roughly 10 to 20 meteors an hour, [according to NASA](https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/meteors-meteorites/orionids/), though a 74 percent illuminated Moon on peak night will wash out the fainter ones, [per AMS](https://amsmeteors.org/meteor-showers/meteor-shower-calendar/). The meteors are debris from Halley's Comet, and the radiant sits just north of Betelgeuse in Orion, [NASA notes](https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/meteors-meteorites/orionids/).

## Orionids 2026 at a glance

| Detail | 2026 |
|---|---|
| Peak night | October 21 to 22, 2026 |
| Active period | October 2 to November 7, 2026 |
| Rate (ZHR) | 10 to 20 per hour typical, up to 50 to 75 per hour in outburst years |
| Radiant | Constellation Orion, just north of Betelgeuse |
| Parent body | Halley's Comet (1P/Halley) |
| Meteor speed | About 41 miles per second |
| Moon on peak night | Waxing gibbous, 74 percent illuminated |
| Next full Moon | October 26, 2026 (Hunter's Moon) |

All figures above come from the [AMS meteor shower calendar](https://amsmeteors.org/meteor-showers/meteor-shower-calendar/) and [NASA's Orionids page](https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/meteors-meteorites/orionids/); for the full calendar year of showers with every Moon condition worked out, see our [meteor shower calendar](/meteor-showers).

## Moon phase on the night of the peak

The [US Naval Observatory's calculated moon phase data](https://aa.usno.navy.mil/calculated/moon/phases) puts October's first quarter Moon at October 18, 2026 and the next full Moon, the Hunter's Moon, at October 26, 2026. That places October 21 to 22 squarely in the waxing gibbous stretch between those two dates, and AMS pins the illumination that night at 74 percent, [per the AMS shower calendar](https://amsmeteors.org/meteor-showers/meteor-shower-calendar/). A Moon that bright rises in mid to late evening and stays above the horizon for most of the night, scattering enough light to erase the faintest Orionids well before dawn.

That does not mean skip it. The brightest Orionids are fireballs, easily strong enough to punch through moonlight, [per NASA](https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/meteors-meteorites/orionids/), so the practical move is timing: watch in the hour or two right after dark, before the Moon climbs high, or turn your back to the Moon and watch the darkest patch of sky you can find. Check our [moon phases guide](/moon-phases) for how illumination and moonrise times shift night to night, and our [Nightly News](/nightly-news) page for a fresher, night-of read closer to the date.

## Where the radiant sits, and why that matters

The Orionids get their name from Orion, the constellation nearest the point in the sky the meteors appear to streak away from, called the radiant. NASA places that radiant "just to the north of constellation Orion's bright star Betelgeuse," [per NASA's Orionids page](https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/meteors-meteorites/orionids/), a bright red supergiant that is one of the easiest stars in the sky to identify, [per NOIRLab](https://noirlab.edu/public/education/constellations/orion/). You do not need to stare at Orion itself to see the shower; NASA's own advice is to look 45 to 90 degrees away from the radiant, since meteors near that angle trace longer, more dramatic streaks than the short, foreshortened ones you catch looking straight at the source, [per NASA](https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/meteors-meteorites/orionids/).

Orion clears the horizon late in the evening in October and climbs higher through the night, which is exactly why NASA recommends watching after midnight and lying flat on your back with your feet pointed southeast (in the Northern Hemisphere), giving your eyes the widest possible view of sky, [per NASA](https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/meteors-meteorites/orionids/). If you are still learning to pick Orion and its neighbors out of the sky, our [constellations guide](/constellations) walks through Orion's belt and how to use it to find other winter stars, and our [stargazing for beginners guide](/stargazing-for-beginners) covers the basics of dark adaptation and what to bring.

## The Halley's Comet connection

The Orionids are one of two meteor showers Earth passes through every year thanks to Halley's Comet, officially 1P/Halley, the famous comet that swings through the inner solar system roughly every 76 years, [per NASA](https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/comets/1p-halley/). As Halley orbits the Sun it sheds a long trail of dust and rock, and NASA notes that this "debris stream results in two weak meteor showers each year: the Eta Aquarids in May and the Orionids in October," [as NASA explains](https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/comets/1p-halley/). Halley itself will not return to view until 2061, but Earth crosses its debris trail every single year regardless, which is why the Orionids show up on the same October dates annually and the Eta Aquariids return every May.

Each meteor you see is a tiny piece of that comet, often no bigger than a grain of sand, burning up roughly 60 miles overhead as it hits the atmosphere at about 41 miles per second, fast enough to leave a distinctively quick, sometimes glowing trail, [per NASA](https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/meteors-meteorites/orionids/). The Geminids, by contrast, come from an asteroid rather than a comet, one of the ways experienced skywatchers tell showers apart beyond just the calendar date, a distinction covered in more depth in our full [meteor shower calendar](/meteor-showers).

## Expected rates: what "10 to 20 an hour" really means

Under ideal, moonless, rural sky conditions, AMS puts the Orionids at 10 to 20 meteors per hour at their peak, a solidly mid-tier shower rather than a headliner like the Perseids or Geminids, [per the AMS calendar](https://amsmeteors.org/meteor-showers/meteor-shower-calendar/). The shower is also known for occasional outbursts: AMS notes that in exceptional years, including 2006 through 2009, Orionid rates briefly rivaled the Perseids at 50 to 75 meteors per hour, though recent years have run closer to the normal 10 to 20 range, [per AMS](https://amsmeteors.org/meteor-showers/meteor-shower-calendar/).

Whatever the ideal number, 2026's 74 percent Moon will cut into it further, so treat 10 to 20 per hour as a ceiling, not a guarantee, and expect the real count from a moonlit or suburban sky to run noticeably lower. Getting to a genuinely dark, certified [dark sky park](/dark-sky-parks) and timing your watch for the Moon-free window right after dusk is the single biggest thing you control on the night.

## Best US dark-sky places to watch the Orionids

Late October favors dry, high-elevation sites in the western and southwestern US, where clearer autumn air and cooling nights combine well with this shower's after-midnight peak. [Grand Canyon National Park](/places/grand-canyon-national-park-dark-sky-park) in Arizona is the standout: the National Park Service promotes the idea that "half the park is after dark" to the roughly six million visitors it gets every year, and its high desert elevation keeps skies dry and dark for the Orionids, [per DarkSky International](https://darksky.org/places/grand-canyon-national-park-dark-sky-park/). [Big Bend National Park](/places/big-bend-national-park-dark-sky-park) in Texas, tucked into the "Big Bend" of the Rio Grande along the Mexican border, offers a similarly dry desert sky and a mild late-October climate well suited to an overnight watch, [per DarkSky International](https://darksky.org/places/big-bend-national-park-dark-sky-park/). [Great Basin National Park](/places/great-basin-national-park-dark-sky-park) in Nevada, set high and dry between the Sierra Nevada and the Wasatch Range, is another strong western pick once temperatures drop after dark, [per DarkSky International](https://darksky.org/places/great-basin-national-park-dark-sky-park/).

For an East Coast option, [Cherry Springs State Park](/places/cherry-springs-state-park-dark-sky-park) in Pennsylvania is open year-round and logs 60 to 85 nights of ideal viewing conditions annually, though fall in the Northeast brings more variable cloud cover than the desert Southwest, so check the forecast a day or two out, [per DarkSky International](https://darksky.org/places/cherry-springs-state-park-dark-sky-park/). Our full [dark sky places directory](/places) covers certified sites in every US state if none of these are within reach.

## Best Canadian dark-sky places to watch the Orionids

North of the border, Alberta's Rocky Mountain parks time public programming to this exact week. [Jasper National Park](/places/jasper-national-park), one of the largest Dark-Sky Preserves in the world, runs its own Jasper Dark Sky Festival every October, [according to background on the park](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasper_National_Park), and late-October nights there are cold and often clear, helped by Alberta's dry mountain air. [Waterton Lakes National Park](/places/waterton-lakes-national-park), certified jointly with Montana's Glacier National Park as the world's first trans-boundary International Dark Sky Park, is a short drive south and works as a binational option for either side of the border, [per Parks Canada](https://parks.canada.ca/pn-np/ab/waterton).

In Quebec, the [Mont-Mégantic International Dark Sky Reserve](/places/mont-megantic-international-dark-sky-reserve), the world's first International Dark Sky Reserve, pairs its ASTROLab observatory with strict regional lighting rules, though its location in the more humid eastern part of the country means checking the forecast matters more here than in the dry west, [per DarkSky International](https://darksky.org/places/mont-megantic-dark-sky-reserve/). On the prairies, [Grasslands National Park](/places/grasslands-national-park) in Saskatchewan protects some of the darkest, least light-polluted skies in the country under wide-open prairie horizons, with the dry continental climate typical of late-October Saskatchewan usually delivering clear, if cold, nights, [per background on the park](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grasslands_National_Park).

## What to expect from the weather that week

Late October sits in the shoulder season across most of the US and Canada: nights are cold enough to dress for winter almost everywhere, and the desert Southwest and the Canadian prairies and Rockies tend to run drier and clearer than the Great Lakes region or the Northeast at this time of year, which is why the western and prairie picks above are the safer bets if cloud cover is a concern. Wherever you go, dress warmer than you think you need to, bring a blanket or reclining chair so you can watch the whole sky without craning your neck, and give your eyes 20 to 30 minutes to fully dark-adapt before judging how many meteors you are actually seeing, tips covered in more detail in our [stargazing for beginners guide](/stargazing-for-beginners).

## Quick answers

**When do the Orionids peak in 2026?** The night of October 21 to 22, 2026, with the full active window running October 2 through November 7, 2026, [per AMS](https://amsmeteors.org/meteor-showers/meteor-shower-calendar/).

**Will the Moon ruin the 2026 Orionids?** It will hurt but not erase them. The Moon is a 74 percent illuminated waxing gibbous on peak night, so faint meteors wash out, but the brightest fireballs still cut through, especially in the hour or two right after dark, [per AMS](https://amsmeteors.org/meteor-showers/meteor-shower-calendar/).

**What causes the Orionids?** Earth passing through a debris stream shed by Halley's Comet, the same parent body behind May's Eta Aquariids, [according to NASA](https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/comets/1p-halley/).

**Where is the Orionids radiant?** Just north of Betelgeuse in the constellation Orion, [per NASA](https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/meteors-meteorites/orionids/), though the best meteors actually appear 45 to 90 degrees away from that point, not staring straight at it.

**How many meteors per hour will I actually see?** Roughly 10 to 20 per hour under a genuinely dark sky at the ideal peak, fewer with the Moon up or under light pollution, and the shower has occasionally surged to 50 to 75 per hour in outburst years like 2006 to 2009, [per AMS](https://amsmeteors.org/meteor-showers/meteor-shower-calendar/).

**Where's the best place to watch in the US or Canada?** Any certified [dark sky park](/dark-sky-parks) well away from city lights works, with dry, high-elevation, or prairie sites such as Grand Canyon National Park, Great Basin National Park, Jasper National Park, and Grasslands National Park offering the best odds of a clear late-October sky; see our full [places directory](/places) for options near you.

## Sources
- [amsmeteors.org](https://amsmeteors.org/meteor-showers/meteor-shower-calendar/)
- [science.nasa.gov](https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/meteors-meteorites/orionids/)
- [science.nasa.gov](https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/comets/1p-halley/)
- [aa.usno.navy.mil](https://aa.usno.navy.mil/calculated/moon/phases)
- [darksky.org](https://darksky.org/places/grand-canyon-national-park-dark-sky-park/)
- [darksky.org](https://darksky.org/places/cherry-springs-state-park-dark-sky-park/)
- [darksky.org](https://darksky.org/places/big-bend-national-park-dark-sky-park/)
- [darksky.org](https://darksky.org/places/great-basin-national-park-dark-sky-park/)
- [en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasper_National_Park)
- [parks.canada.ca](https://parks.canada.ca/pn-np/ab/waterton)
- [darksky.org](https://darksky.org/places/mont-megantic-dark-sky-reserve/)
- [en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grasslands_National_Park)
- [noirlab.edu](https://noirlab.edu/public/education/constellations/orion/)

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Canonical: https://darkskiesdirectory.com/orionid-meteor-shower-2026
Updated: 2026-09-28