Orionid Meteor Shower 2026 Stays Active Through Nov. 7 After Its Oct. 22 Peak

Updated Oct. 30, 2026, 1:05 a.m. ET. The Oct. 21-22 peak has passed, but NASA lists the Orionids as active through Nov. 7, with fewer meteors each night; watch after moonset before dawn. Next come the Southern Taurids on Nov. 4-5 and the Leonids on Nov. 16-17, then the Geminids on Dec. 13-14.

The best window was moonset to dawn. On the Oct. 21-22 peak the moon, about 86% lit, stayed up until around 3 to 4 a.m. local time in most U.S. cities. From moonset until dawn twilight began, about 5:15 to 6:30 a.m., the sky was dark and the Orionids were at their best. The shower stays active through Nov. 7, with the darkest hours still before dawn.

The Orionid meteor shower, made of dust from Halley’s Comet, peaked the night of Wednesday, Oct. 21 into Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, and remains active through Nov. 7. Under a dark sky you could see up to about 20 meteors an hour at the peak; rates fall each night now, though you may still catch a few after moonset before dawn. The table below gives the moonset and the end of full darkness for 12 U.S. cities on the peak morning, from U.S. Naval Observatory data.

Orionid viewing times by city

Times are local, for the morning of Thursday, Oct. 22 (the peak), with moonset on the mornings before and after. “Dark until” is when astronomical twilight begins and the sky starts to brighten.

City	Moonset	Dark until	Moonset Oct. 21	Moonset Oct. 23
New York (ET)	3:13 a.m.	5:43 a.m.	2:07 a.m.	4:19 a.m.
Washington, D.C. (ET)	3:27 a.m.	5:56 a.m.	2:23 a.m.	4:32 a.m.
Atlanta (ET)	4:02 a.m.	6:25 a.m.	3:01 a.m.	5:03 a.m.
Miami (ET)	3:49 a.m.	6:06 a.m.	2:54 a.m.	4:46 a.m.
Chicago (CT)	3:09 a.m.	5:38 a.m.	2:02 a.m.	4:16 a.m.
Houston (CT)	3:50 a.m.	6:08 a.m.	2:52 a.m.	4:49 a.m.
Dallas (CT)	3:54 a.m.	6:14 a.m.	2:54 a.m.	4:55 a.m.
Denver (MT)	3:23 a.m.	5:48 a.m.	2:18 a.m.	4:29 a.m.
Phoenix (MST)	2:57 a.m.	5:15 a.m.	1:57 a.m.	3:59 a.m.
Los Angeles (PT)	3:22 a.m.	5:40 a.m.	2:22 a.m.	4:24 a.m.
San Francisco (PT)	3:37 a.m.	5:57 a.m.	2:34 a.m.	4:42 a.m.
Seattle (PT)	3:29 a.m.	5:56 a.m.	2:17 a.m.	4:42 a.m.

Phoenix is on Mountain Standard Time all year; every other city is on daylight time until Nov. 1. If your city is not listed, look up moonset for your location and plan to watch from then until about 90 minutes before sunrise. Within a metro area, moonset differs by only a few minutes.

How the night unfolds

Local time	What you will see
Evening to midnight	The moon is high and bright. Orion rises in the east late in the evening; only an occasional bright meteor shows.
Midnight to moonset	The moon sinks in the west. More meteors appear as the radiant climbs, but moonlight still hides the faint ones.
Moonset to “dark until”	The best window: no moon, radiant high in the southeast to south, the most meteors of the night.
Twilight to sunrise	The sky brightens from the east and the count drops quickly.

Meteor showers are usually strongest before dawn, because that side of Earth faces forward along its orbit and sweeps up more debris. This year that natural peak and the dark sky after moonset line up.

The 2026 shower at a glance

Detail	2026
Active period	Oct. 2 to Nov. 7
Peak night	Oct. 21-22 (predicted maximum around 18:00 UTC on Oct. 21)
Zenithal hourly rate	20 (American Meteor Society)
Realistic count, dark rural sky after moonset	About 10 to 20 an hour
Realistic count, suburbs	About 3 to 6 an hour (NASA)
Speed	About 41 miles (66 km) per second
Parent body	Comet 1P/Halley
Moon on the peak morning	Waxing gibbous, about 86% lit (U.S. Naval Observatory)

The Orionids have a broad maximum, so the mornings of Oct. 21, 22 and 23 can all produce similar rates. If clouds covered the peak, the morning before or after was the alternative; moonset came about an hour earlier on Oct. 21 and about an hour later on Oct. 23.

Where to look

The meteors seem to come from a point near the raised club of the constellation Orion, north of the reddish star Betelgeuse, which is high in the southeast to south before dawn. You do not need to stare at that point. Face southeast to south and look about halfway up the sky, 30 to 40 degrees away from Orion, where meteors show longer trails. Orionids are fast and often leave a glowing trail, called a train, that lingers for a second or two, and bright fireballs are possible.

How to watch: a short checklist

1. Check the sky. Clouds matter more than anything else. The shower is active through Nov. 7, so pick a clear morning before dawn.
2. Get away from lights. A park, a beach or the edge of town with a wide view of the southeastern to southern sky beats a backyard under a streetlight.
3. Set an alarm for moonset. Use the table above.
4. Let your eyes adjust. Give yourself 20 to 30 minutes in the dark without looking at a phone. If you need light, use a red flashlight or your phone’s red-light or night mode with the brightness down.
5. Get comfortable. Lie back on a blanket, sleeping pad or reclining chair so you can take in a wide sweep of sky. Late October mornings are cold across much of the country; bring layers, a hat and a hot drink.
6. Skip the telescope. Binoculars and telescopes narrow your view; meteors are a naked-eye sight.
7. Count in blocks. Count for 15 minutes at a time; it keeps you looking up and shows how the rate climbs after moonset.

Where they come from

Halley’s Comet sheds ice and dust each time it passes the sun. Earth crosses that stream of debris twice a year: in October, producing the Orionids, and in early May, producing the Eta Aquariids. Halley itself was last near the sun in 1986 and is expected back in 2061, so these meteors are the easiest way to see a piece of it before then.

The Hunter’s Moon came on Oct. 26

October’s full moon, traditionally called the Hunter’s Moon, was full at 04:12 UTC on Monday, Oct. 26, 2026. In U.S. time zones that was:

Time zone	Moment of full moon
Eastern	12:12 a.m. EDT, Monday, Oct. 26
Central	11:12 p.m. CDT, Sunday, Oct. 25
Mountain	10:12 p.m. MDT, Sunday, Oct. 25
Pacific	9:12 p.m. PDT, Sunday, Oct. 25

The moon looked full on both the evening of Oct. 25 and Oct. 26, rising in the east around sunset; our Hunter’s Moon guide has moonrise times for 20 cities.

Other sky dates this autumn

Date	Event
Night of Oct. 21-22	Orionid meteor shower peak
Oct. 26	Full Hunter’s Moon
Nov. 1	Daylight saving time ends in the U.S.; evenings get dark an hour earlier by the clock
Night of Nov. 16-17	Leonid meteor shower peak

If you want the clock change and the full moon on the same page, our November 2026 printable calendar and the daylight saving time story have the dates. The next showers are the Taurids and Leonids; see November 2026 meteor showers. Our Leonid meteor shower guide covers its peak and viewing times. Print the viewing-times sheet below to take outside: it has the city table, a checklist and a tally grid, in a night-sky or ink-saver version.