Orionid meteor shower captured on social media sites

The Orionid meteor shower overnight was difficult to see in many parts of urban Southern California, but those away from the city lights captured images of the event.

The shower, which occurs each October and was at peak visibility from Saturday after midnight to dawn Sunday morning, is the result of dust from Halley's Comet hitting Earth's atmosphere as the planet travels through space in its orbit around the sun. At peak time, experts expected 20 or so meteors to flash across the sky each hour.

Every year around mid-October, debris from the comet hits the edge of Earth's atmosphere. The debris is moving really fast -- roughly 148,000 mph -- and burns up when it hits the atmosphere, causing the flash of light we see.

Q&A: Orionid meteor show explained

Cloudy skies and a lot of light made the shower hard to see in the L.A. area. Some people went into the mountains and deserts, including Joshua Tree, to take a look.

Here are some photos found on Twitter and other social media sites:

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