Do you remember the comet? The last time this object was seen was in 1986.
It takes roughly 75 years to go once around the sun, so your next chance will come in the summer of 2061. If you were around back then, you may not have seen the comet because of light pollution or the altitude above the horizon.
Either way, if you missed out on the 1986 event, or don't want to wait until the comet's next flyby in 2061, you might want to try to catch a view before sunrise.
There is a shower called the Eta Aquarid meteor shower.
The remnants of the nucleus of a comet are called meteorites. The particles come from comets or were formed with them. These particles are usually near the comet.
This material is originallybunched up, but eventually spreads out along the comet's path. The cometary debris is distributed more or less uniformly along the parent comet's path if the swarm of particles is old enough. The meteoroids are distributed fairly evenly around the sun. The Earth will receive a meteor shower at the same time each year when it cuts across the comet's path.
One point is in the middle of October and the other in the late part of October.
Our guide on how to photograph meteor showers can help if you want to take photos of Eta Aquarids. We have the best cameras and the best lens for the next meteor shower.
According to Margaret Campbell-Brown and Peter Brown in the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, the Eta Aquarid meteor shower is predicted to peak early on Friday morning. This is a perfect year for observing because of the waxing crescent moon setting before 1 a.m. local daylight time. The shower appears to have a peak strength for about two or three days before and after May 6.
If you plan to watch for these meteors this year, there is a downside, at least for those who watch from north of the equator. The emanation point of these meteors is located near the asterism commonly known as the Water Jar, which comes above the eastern horizon around 2:30 a.m. local daylight time.
The best display of the year is the Eta Aquarids, which is from the Southern Hemisphere. The Water Jar of Aquarius can be seen from many places, including Australia, New Zealand, Santiago, Chile and Cape Town, South Africa.
The Water Jar of Aquarius is not seen very high in the sky by those living north of the equator. After the first light of dawn illuminates the eastern sky, it becomes brighter. It is very difficult for people in the northern hemisphere to see the shower.
The actual observed rates are usually much lower than thequoted 40 to 60 per hour.
Rates from the United States are typical.
30 meteors per hour at 21 degrees north latitude (Honolulu, Hawaii), 25 meteors per hour at 26-degrees north latitude (Brownsville, Texas; Naples, Florida), 15 per hour at 35-degrees latitude (Albuquerque, New Mexico; Chattanooga, Tennessee), Only 10 per hour at 40-degrees (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Salt Lake City, Utah).
About 5 or less north of latitude 45 (Bangor, Maine; Seattle, Washington).
One of the best ways to watch a shower is to catch a glimpse of a meteorite that will skim the atmosphere horizontally. Such shooting stars are called Earthgrazers.
Robert Lunsford, of the American Meteor Society, says that these Earthgrazers leave colorful, long- lasting trails.
If you catch sight of one early in the morning, you will likely see a streak produced by material from the nucleus of the comet. When these tiny bits of comet collide with Earth, the effect is referred to as shooting stars.
The comet is a litterbug and leaves behind a trail of garbage.
I suppose you can call them rock stars, but eventually they fall down to Earth.
If you snap an amazing photo of an Eta Aquarid meteor or any other night-sky sight and you would like to share it with Space.com for a story or image gallery, send images, comments and location information to spacephotos@space.
The instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium is Joe Rao. He writes about astronomy for a number of publications. Follow us on social media.
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