Each May, the Eta Aquarid meteor shower occurs in the night sky.
There are two annual showers caused by pieces of the comet. There is a shower in October. The Eta Aquarids are named after their apparent "radiant" point in the constellation, near one of its bright stars.
The shower peaks in early May. The shower is predicted to peak in the early morning hours of May 5.
The best time to see the Eta Aquarids is in the hours before dawn.
Skywatchers can see the best show if they go outside around 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. Longer trails of meteors can be seen away from where the shower is centered. A typical Aquarid meteor is moving at a rate of 44 miles per second. You can find it at these coordinates.
During the peak of the shower, viewers north of the equator can expect to see 10-30 meteors per hour. The Eta Aquarids are one of the best sky shows of the year in the Southern Hemisphere.
The best time to view the moon is before dawn, when there is less light to block the view. According to the American Meteor Society, the meteors are very fast and often show long trains but few fireballs.
The best meteor showers of the year can be seen.
Skywatchers can find the correct point in the sky because the meteors do not originate near the constellation. Every 76 years, a stream of litter left behind by comets is left behind by the meteors.
According to NASA, reports of the comet date back to at least 273 B.C. It arrived in 43 B.C. a year after Julius Caesar was killed in Rome. The comet is in the Bayeux tapestry, a chronicle of the Norman conquest of England.
The comet was first thought to be a periodic one that visited the inner solar system. The comets that were seen in 1531, 1607 and 1682 were very similar. He thought the comet would come in 1759. The comet came on schedule despite the fact that Halley did not live to see it.
The last time we saw the comet was in 1986 and it should come again in 2061.
There are additional resources.
The article was updated on May 1, 2022.
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