The annual Eta Aquarids meteor shower peaks Friday (May 5) and Saturday (May 6), giving skywatchers the chance to see debris from Halley’s Comet as it enters Earth’s atmosphere at incredible speeds and burns up.
This year, the meteor shower began lighting up the night sky above Earth on April 19 and will continue through May 28, so even after it peaks there will be plenty of opportunities to catch the sparkling fireballs in the sky.
At its peak, the Eta Aquarid meteor shower has a rate of about 55 meteors per hour, but that rate is calculated assuming ideal viewing conditions such as completely dark skies and perfect weather. This means that skywatchers should realistically expect to see fewer Eta Aquarids than this.
according to in the sky (Opens in a new tab)from New York City, the Eta Aquarid meteor shower becomes visible each morning around 2:32 AM EDT (0632 GMT) remaining active until dawn at 5:16 AM EDT (0916 GMT) .
Related: Meteor showers 2023: Where, when and how to see them
Detecting Eta Aquarids is more difficult in the Northern Hemisphere because the radiant meteor shower, the point from which meteors appear to stream, is in the constellation of Aquarius near one of the constellation’s brightest stars, Beta Aquarid, which only reaches low above the eastern horizon.
In the Northern Hemisphere, the Eta Aquarids’ radiation is highest just before sunrise with only a few hours on the horizon to the east. This makes early dawn the best time to spot most meteors. The reason more meteors appear when the radiation rises to its highest point, or “peaks,” is because that is when that region of Earth turns toward the direction of the incoming meteorites.
This results in more meteors raining vertically and creating short trails near the star Beta Aquarius. Other times, although there will be fewer meteorites, the fact that they take more horizontal paths through Earth’s atmosphere means that they take longer to burn up, and as a result, these long-lived meteorites create relatively extended trails above the Earth.
Skywatchers who can’t get outside to watch the meteor shower during its peak have the option of watching it streamed online, live and for free. The Asahi Shimbun Space Department and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) The live broadcast has begun (Opens in a new tab) Eta Aquariids from the Subaru Telescope, MaunaKea Hawaii, on April 18.
Like all meteor showers, Eta Aquarids are created when, during its 365.25-day solar orbit, Earth passes through a cloud of dust and debris left behind by a comet or asteroid. And the Eta Aquarids have a very famous predecessor indeed, arguably the most famous comet, Halley’s comet, or more formally 1P/Halley.
When comets come close to the sun, radiation from our star heats up the material they’re made of. This results in the solid ice inside the comet’s body turning directly into gas, a process called sublimation. When this gas is ejected, it spews dust and ice particles out of the comet. This causes these icy bodies to brighten as they approach the Sun, and also gives them the distinctive glowing halo, or coma, that surrounds them and their comet tail.
In addition, some bits of this ejected matter remain around the sun during the comet’s orbit, and while the Earth makes its own journey around its parent star, it passes through these clouds usually at the same time each year.
Our planet encounters debris from Halley’s Comet every April to May, giving rise to the Eta Aquarids. Dust fragments separated from Halley’s comet hundreds of years ago, something scientists know because the comet’s current trajectory does not seem to get close enough to Earth to leave cometary debris that would create meteor showers.
The fragments enter Earth’s atmosphere at speeds of up to 148,000 miles per hour, 100 times faster than a jet fighter, and burn up at altitudes of 44 to 62 miles (70 to 100 kilometers) above the planet’s surface.
The last time the sun’s 76-year orbit led Halley’s Comet past Earth was in 1986 and won’t return until 2061. According to NASA (Opens in a new tab). This means that over the next 38 years, the closest skywatchers will watch the comet is to see the debris it shed hundreds of years ago as it was destroyed in the atmosphere.
If you want to get a closer look at Aquarius and hopefully see some of the Eta Aquarids, our guides to the best telescopes and best binoculars are a great place to start.
And if you’re looking to take pictures of the night sky in general, check out our guide on How to visualize the moonAnd so do we The best cameras for astrophotography And The best lenses for astrophotography.
Editor’s note: If you took a photo of the Eta Aquarid meteor shower and would like to share it with Space.com readers, send your photo(s), comments, name, and location to [email protected].
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