Orionids Meteor Show 2016: When will it peak and where to watch the event live online

Stargazers will be treated to a big celestial event – Orionids Meteor Shower – on the night of October 21. The annual meteor shower or shooting stars will be at its peak on Friday night with over 20 meteors visible every hour.

Orionids Meteor Shower is one of the most reliable shooting stars and takes place annually in October. The shooting stars usually last from October 16 to October 26, but it reaches its peak on Friday night. However, this year waning gibbous moon might hamper the view of shooting stars.

These shooting stars are called Orionids because they pass from a region to the north of the constellation Orion's second-brightest star, the ruddy-hued Betelgeuse, Space.com explained.

"The Orionids are one of the top five meteor showers of the year and will bring the best chance to see a shooting star since the Perseids meteor shower in August," AccuWeather Meteorologist Brian Lada said.

"Occasionally, the Orionids produce fireballs, meteors that shine extremely bright for a few quick seconds before fading away," Lada said.

Where to look

Unlike other celestial events, Orionids will be visible from anywhere on Earth. However, it will be best viewed if the sky is clear and away from major cities.

"A good thing about the Orionids is that they tend to either have a double peak or a flat maximum, which means that you can see good Orionid rates for two to three nights," NASA meteor expert Bill Cooke said. "So if you miss it one night, you can go out the next night and see them," he added.

Live Stream information

The event will be live streamed by Slooh, so in case you don't have a clear sky to watch the shooting stars or if you cannot go away from the city then you can watch it meteor show live online. Slooh started covering the celestial event live from October 20.