One of the class ’s most anticipate meteor showers is set to top at the kickoff of May , bringing with it as many as 30 visible meteors each hour in part of the Northern Hemisphere – and even more in the Southern .
The Eta Aquarids shooting star shower bath come on April 19 and is visible until May 28 , with a peak regard window seeable between May 4 and during the predawn hours of May 6 . pair with anew moon phaseon May 4 , the dark skies make for a perfect skygazing tableau . Meteors link with this shower are hump for their speed and blast into Earth ’s atmosphere at around 66 klick ( 41 miles ) per second . The fleet meteors produce a gamey number of glowing , relentless “ trains ” of incandescent debris field of honor that follow the path of the shooting star , live anywhere from several seconds to second , fit in to theAmerican Meteor Society .
Eta Aquarids can be seen in both hemispheres just before dawn , but viewing opportunities will be much better in the south of the equator where line of latitude allow for a clear survey of the bolide dashing across the sky . Northern spectator can carry to see “ earthgrazers ” – long meteors that look like they skim over the Earth’s surface of Earth along its visible horizon .
NASAsaysthe best path to view Eta Aquarids is to find an arena away from metropolis or street lights and bring all the fixings to get comfortable . Lie flat on your back with your feet confront east and look up to take in as much of the sky as possible . It choose about 30 min for our eyes to adjust , after which breaker point you ’ll be able to see an count on 10 to 20 meteoroid at non - peak times . Be patient : the show will last until dawn . you may also use thisnifty NASA toolto cipher what meteor cascade action will look like where you ’re located in the humanity .
The bits and piece of space rubble that make up Eta Aquarids come from Halley ’s Comet when it ca-ca its annual return to the inner Solar System , shedding a layer of ice and rock into space . Grains from this layer finally become the Eta Aquarids in May and the Orionids shower in October if they make contact with the Earth ’s atm . First pick up in 1705 by Edmund Halley , this comet is one of the most famous and has been tape throughout account for millennia . Because it takes 76 long time to revolve the Sun , the comet was last seen to common viewer in 1986 and is not expected to introduce our part of the internal Solar System again until 2061 .
