Saskatchewan skies: Catching the Orionid meteor shower

If you look up in the sky Wednesday or Thursday evening, you may just see something amazing. An Orionids meteor shower is headed Saskatchewan’s way. It’s one of approximately 12 meteor showers we see annually, according to Living Sky Guy and astrophotographer, Tim Yaworski.

“Most meteor showers are created by one of two things, either debris from asteroids or debris from a comet,” explains Yaworski. “And in the case of the Orionids, what it’s been created from is the debris left over from a comet that essentially is orbited past the Earth and around the Sun.“

Orionid meteors average around 20 per hour, but with the sky not getting completely dark yet, this shower may be a little harder to spot.

“That’s the thing is meteor showers themselves are always best viewed from midnight on, that’s when the earth is basically rotating into the path of them. So that’s when we will usually see our highest number of meteors now this year,” shares Yaworski. “So yes, there is going to be some challenges, but there’s still a good possibility of being able to see some meteors.”

To increase your chances of seeing a meteor, Yaworski says you will want to get as far away from light pollution as possible.

“My suggestion would be to head out to get the city behind you, essentially head east of your city,” says Yaworski. “In the case of Saskatoon or Regina, like even just a 20-minute drive out into the country, find yourself a good safe spot. To pull off from the road shut off all of your headlights shut off your smart devices give your eyes a good 10 or 15 minutes to get used to the darkness.”

The night sky is often very busy, so it is important to know what you are looking for.

“The main thing people say are “is that a meteor or is that a satellite?”. If it’s going really slow, and it’s just constantly moving, it’s a satellite. If it’s blinking, it is an airplane. But if it goes by in a flash, it starts dim, gets really bright, and then goes dim again, that’s a meteor.” adds Yaworski.

If you are looking to commemorate the moment, you won’t be able to capture the meteors with just a smart phone. Yaworski recommends using a digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera with the widest-angle lens possible.

“Point the camera to the area of the sky you hope meteors will appear and if your camera has an interval timer set it for taking say 20-second exposures one after another until you run out of patience or you run or out of battery,” says Yaworski. “I may have captured somewhere in the area of about 1,800 photographs and had three to four where actually meteors appeared. So, it’s kind of like winning the meteor lottery.”

It may take some time to get lucky enough to see one, so it is advised to dress warm, find a safe spot to sit and bring out chairs or blankets for comfort.

Watch the video above to see Yaworski’s photos of the sky.