Watch the Skies: Eta Aquarid Meteor Shower to Light Up the Night
This weekend a meteor shower will be at its peak sending glowing streaks of space dust from Halley’s comet across the sky. The Eta Aquarid meteor shower is expected to peak between midnight and dawn on May 6 from the UK with around 50 shooting stars per hour. And the dazzling display will light up the sky in the US too late on May 4 into the early hours of May 5.
The meteor shower will be particularly more visible this weekend because it comes alongside a new moon meaning the sky will be darker and the shooting stars will stand out. The Eta Aquarids is the third strongest annual meteor shower. Halley’s comet soars past Earth and leaves its debris behind which causes the meteor shower. The meteors, also referred to as the shooting stars, enter Earth’s atmosphere and burn up quickly which causes the flares of light in the sky. The shooting stars are moving at a swift 40.7 miles per second. “Eta Aquarid meteors are known for their speed, with the meteors traveling at about 148,000 mph (66 km/s) into Earth’s atmosphere,” NASA explained. The constellation the shooting stars appear to come from is Aquarius which is where the meteor shower got its name. The peak for Eta Aquarid occurs this weekend, but the meteor shower is active for a few weeks from April 15- May 27.
HOW TO VIEW THE Eta Aquarid Meteor Shower
You’ll want to go to an area that has the least amount of city lights as possible. The best viewing hours are when the night sky is as dark as possible and the least amount of moonlight. This is past midnight or predawn hours. It is best to go outside and bring a blanket or a chair you can lie back in to get a good look at the sky. “To view the Eta Aquarids find an area well away from city lights or street lights and come prepared with a sleeping bag, blanket, or lawn chair,” NASA advised. “Lie flat on your back with your feet facing east and look up, taking in as much of the sky as possible.” NASA says your eyes will be able to spot the shooting stars best after being in the dark for about 30 minutes. “After about 30 minutes in the dark, your eyes will adapt and you will begin to see meteors,” it added.
What is a meteor shower?
During a meteor shower, fireballs appear to streak across the sky. This happens because pieces of debris are rapidly burning up as they enter Earth’s atmosphere. That debris is often left behind by a collision between two space objects, like a planet or comet. The Orionids shower is debris from Halley’s Comet, a huge chunk of ice orbiting the Sun. Many meteor showers are repeated. They occur at a height of around 62 miles. “Be patient – the show will last until dawn, so you have plenty of time to catch a glimpse.” From the UK, Royal Museums Greenwich said: “This shower favours the Southern Hemisphere and will appear low in the sky for northerly latitudes (such as the UK) in the early predawn hours. Nevertheless, it should still be possible to see the shower in the eastern sky, even when the radiant is below the horizon.” The southern hemisphere will get the best view of the meteor shower – especially in Australia. The northern hemisphere is expected to get about 10 meteors per hour. You may need to be patient to catch a glimpse of a shooting star as well. The shooting stars are unpredictable and can pop up sporadically through the night.