WHY does the magnificent Orionid meteor shower occur in the sky over Baku?

Last night, residents of Baku witnessed a rare and surprising astronomical phenomenon: the Orionid meteor shower.

Oku.Az Videos circulating on social media reportedly show a spectacular scene created by dozens of meteors in the capital’s sky overnight.

Executive Director of Shamakhi Astrophysical Observatory, Professor Nariman Ismayilov Okhu.AzHe said in his statement that meteor showers are a natural phenomenon that occurs as a result of cosmic debris entering the atmosphere and its combustion.

“During the year, depending on the constellation that appears in the sky, meteor showers are observed in certain directions. This process can be clearly observed with the naked eye in rural areas, high in the high mountains.

The meteor shower observed the other day belongs to the Orionid family. The Orionids are meteors from the constellation Orion and originate primarily from the remains of Halley’s Comet.

Various stone fragments, ice fragments breaking off from the comet at a speed, I would even say, at the highest speed among meteors, up to 66 km per second, their speed, come and enter the Earth’s atmosphere in the night sky. As a result, it is burned and destroyed in the atmosphere. Some large stones can reach Earth. These create small craters on the Earth’s surface and can even sink into very deep layers of the Earth.

During the year, in addition, meteor showers such as Perseids and Draconids occur from different constellations, all of them of the same nature. Due to their high speed, it is sometimes possible not to see them,” the professor said.

Aziza Ismayilova