// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
How to see the Orionid meteor shower from Friday
One of the best-known meteor showers is now active until 7 November.
The Orionids are particularly fast and can leave trails in the sky that last a few seconds after the meteor itself has gone.
The display occurs at around the same time each year when the Earth passes through a trail of dust and debris left behind by Halley's Comet.
The Orionids are particularly fast, entering the atmosphere at around 41 miles per second.
As tiny particles from Halley's comet enter the Earth's atmosphere they heat up and produce streaks of light across the night sky that we see as meteors.
Halley's Comet is one of the most famous comets in our Solar System and has been observed from Earth for centuries. It takes around 76 years to complete one orbit of the Sun and was last seen from Earth in 1986.
Halley's Comet is not expected to be visible from Earth again until 2061, but its debris will continue to produce meteor showers each year.
In fact, the Earth encounters material left behind by it twice a year, resulting in the Eta Aquariid meteor shower in May and the Orionids in October.
The meteors appear to radiate from the constellation of Orion, which is where the shower gets its name, but they can appear anywhere across the night sky.
Under ideal conditions, around 10 to 20 meteors can be seen each hour at the shower's peak.