Bushwalk Australia

From the Mercury

CRANE your heads to the night sky Tasmania, a meteor shower created by the tail of Halley’s comet will be visible tomorrow and Thursday morning.

The annual Orionids meteor shower will light up the sky to the east of the state from 1am-4am on both days. Avid stargazers can look in the direction of the Orion constellation to spot the phenomenon.

The shower is caused by Earth passing through the tail of Halley’s comet, with debris entering the atmosphere through our gravitational pull. The debris then burns up, seen as a shooting star.

Editor of the Australasian Science Magazine David Reneke said the key to seeing a meteor shower was patience. He said up to 40 meteors were expected.

“What is distinctive about this one is that we are passing through the tail of Halley’s comet which last came through in 1986,” he said.


“It leaves a ring of dusty material around the sun and we intersect it every year as we move around the sun, so for a week or so we get a meteor shower.

“This one has been associated with a few fireballs over the past seven days and they explode overhead so you can hear the sound accompanied by a flash of bright light.”

Given the overcast, about the only thing you're going to see looking up is the occasional owl.

I was lucky enough to do a special flight to go and look at Halleys Comet in 1986. I think it was with TAA or Ansett! I clearly remember my expectations and the reality of it being two entirely different things