Early Tuesday morning (May 6), just before dawn begins to light up the
eastern sky, stargazers have an opportunity to see a meteor shower made
up of debris from one of the most famous of comets in history: Halley's
Comet.
Halley's Comet made its last pass through the inner solar system in 1986 and it's not due back until the summer of 2061. Nonetheless, each time Halley sweeps around the sun, it leaves behind a dusty trail — call it "cosmic litter" — that ends up trailing behind the comet.
And as it turns out, the orbit of Halley's Comet closely approaches the Earth's orbit at two places. The first point comes now, in early May, producing the Eta Aquarid meteor shower. The other point occurs in the middle to latter part of October, producing a meteor display known as the Orionid meteor shower. [The 2013 Eta Aquarid Meteor Shower: Amazing Photos]
This year, the Eta Aquarid meteor shower is predicted to peak early on Tuesday morning, May 6, but will also be visible late at Monday night (May 5). Under ideal conditions (a dark, moonless sky) up to 60 of these very swift meteors might be seen per hour. The shower appears at about one-quarter peak strength for several days before and after May 6.
If bad weather or bright city lights spoil your view, you can watch webcasts of Eta Aquarid meteor shower Monday night, courtesy of NASA and the Slooh community telescope.
This year will be a very good year to watch for them because the moon will be one day from First Quarter phase which means it will have long since set when the stars of the constellation Aquarius make their appearance in the southeast sky during the early morning hours and will provide absolutely no interference to viewing these swift streaks of light.
From places south of the equator, the Eta Aquarids put on very good show; Australians consider them to be the best meteor display of the year. But for those watching from north of the equator, it’s a much different story.
Read more: Meteor Shower Spawned by Halley's Comet Peaks This Week | Space.com
Halley's Comet made its last pass through the inner solar system in 1986 and it's not due back until the summer of 2061. Nonetheless, each time Halley sweeps around the sun, it leaves behind a dusty trail — call it "cosmic litter" — that ends up trailing behind the comet.
And as it turns out, the orbit of Halley's Comet closely approaches the Earth's orbit at two places. The first point comes now, in early May, producing the Eta Aquarid meteor shower. The other point occurs in the middle to latter part of October, producing a meteor display known as the Orionid meteor shower. [The 2013 Eta Aquarid Meteor Shower: Amazing Photos]
This year, the Eta Aquarid meteor shower is predicted to peak early on Tuesday morning, May 6, but will also be visible late at Monday night (May 5). Under ideal conditions (a dark, moonless sky) up to 60 of these very swift meteors might be seen per hour. The shower appears at about one-quarter peak strength for several days before and after May 6.
If bad weather or bright city lights spoil your view, you can watch webcasts of Eta Aquarid meteor shower Monday night, courtesy of NASA and the Slooh community telescope.
This year will be a very good year to watch for them because the moon will be one day from First Quarter phase which means it will have long since set when the stars of the constellation Aquarius make their appearance in the southeast sky during the early morning hours and will provide absolutely no interference to viewing these swift streaks of light.
From places south of the equator, the Eta Aquarids put on very good show; Australians consider them to be the best meteor display of the year. But for those watching from north of the equator, it’s a much different story.
Read more: Meteor Shower Spawned by Halley's Comet Peaks This Week | Space.com
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