The Eta Aquarid meteor shower is set to peak during the early morning of Tuesday, May 6, bringing with it a cosmic light show as ‘shooting stars’ — and potentially dazzling fireballs — could burst to life above our heads as Earth barrels through the trail of debris left behind by Halley’s comet.
As space.com reports, this year’s Eta Aquarid shower peaks on the nights of May 5 and May 6, during which well-placed stargazers could see up to 50 meteors per hour pass swiftly across the sky, according to NASA. The meteors will appear to be coming from a patch of sky — known as a radiant — located in the constellation Aquarius. This equatorial constellation is particularly high for stargazers in the Southern Hemisphere at this time of year, allowing them to catch the greatest number of meteors.
While May 5-6 represents the peak of activity, the Eta Aquarid shower has technically been active since April 20, so make sure you keep an eye on the sky in the run-up to the peak of activity next week.
For viewers in the Northern Hemisphere, the shower is best viewed during the pre-dawn hours, when the radiant will rise along with Aquarius in the eastern sky. During this time, viewers in New York, for example, could expect to see around 10 meteors per hour. However, Aquarius will be low on the eastern horizon for mid-northern latitudes, making them some what difficult to spot.
As our planet passes through Halley’s sweeping orbital path in early May, countless pieces of cometary debris will strike Earth’s atmosphere at speeds of up to 40 miles per second (65.4 km per second). Upon hitting the atmosphere, the air in front of these primordial particles compresses and imparts friction, causing them to disintegrate in spectacular fashion above our heads in flashes of light that can be easily visible to the naked eye under the right conditions.
Eta Aquarids are known for leaving glowing debris trails in their wake. The best way to catch the longest trails is to find a patch of sky 40 degrees away from the radiant in the direction of your local zenith — the point in the night sky above your head — and to allow at least 30 minutes for your eyes to adapt to the dark. (Remember, 10 degrees is roughly the equivalent to the width of your upturned, clenched fist, when held at arms length from your body.)
It’s also possible that particularly large clumps of primordial debris shed by Halley can strike our atmosphere during these periods of activity, which create dramatic ‘fireball’ events as they blaze through the sky before disintegrating overhead.
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