What's the buzz on the Orionid meteor shower last night?

So how was the Orionid meteor shower last night?

Just like we called A-Rod's home run last night as he was walking up to the plate, NASA pretty much nailed their prediction of 60 meteors per hour.

"Observers are reporting that the rate got as high as 55 per hour last night/before dawn this morning - pretty close to the 60 predicted," NASA's Janet Anderson told the Horizons blog.

"The meteor shower was pretty much as expected," she added. "Quite a few bright meteors, but not many fireballs or bolides."

What the heck's a bolide?

We headed over to Wikipedia to check. Their definition reads: Astronomers tend to use the term to mean an exceptionally bright fireball, particularly one that explodes (sometimes called a detonating fireball).

Count us in for some detonating fireball action.

I just saw Halley's comet, she waved...

If you missed the show, at least there weren't many bolides. As we told you yesterday, late last night and early this morning were the peak viewing times to witness the effect of the Earth plowing into residual debris left over from Halley's Comet.

As Monitor colleague Pete Spotts explained, "The Orionids are one of two meteor showers each year generated by debris from Halley’s Comet. Halley’s last graced us with it presence in 1986, when space agencies around the world marshaled a small squadron of spacecraft to study the comet.

"Halley is a short-period comet that swings by the sun, then heads out just beyond Neptune before it hangs a U-ie and starts the trip inward all over again."

What'd you think?

We know what NASA says.  But, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. So we did some snooping around the Internet.

Consensus? Judging from the online comments, it's a mixed bag. Some loved it. Some considered it a waste of time. Weather played a major role. If it was cloudy, you were disappointed.

The Orionid Meteor Project

Our favorite conversation came from YouTube [video below] where a group of three friends from somewhere got up early and faithfully set up a video camera to capture the cosmic slideshow.

You probably know the rest of the story. The video camera captured nothing. The camera was pointed up at the sky and wasn't powerful enough to pick anything up.

But the microphone picked up their conversation. Sure, call us voyeurs, but they uploaded it and we listened in. And it's not like they released any top-secret information.

Drama unfolds

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