Halley's Comet to set off meteor shower Monday night
The Eta Aquarid meteor shower is about to peak, and will be sparked by debris from Halley's Comet -- one of the most well-known celestial objects.
Penn State Professor of Astronomy Chris Palma joins AccuWeather to go over the most exciting stargazing events for the month of May including the Eta Aquarid meteor shower, which will peak on May 5-6.
The second and final meteor shower of spring is about to peak, an event that is linked to one of the most well-known objects in our solar system. The meteor shower, known as the Eta Aquarids, is expected to reach its full strength on the night of May 5-6 and will be visible around the world.
Halley's Comet connection
Meteor showers create dazzling displays when Earth travels through fields of debris left behind by comets or asteroids. These particles, often no larger than a pebble or grain of sand, burn incredibly bright as they enter the planet's atmosphere to create a "shooting star."
The debris that causes the Eta Aquarids has been traced back to Halley's Comet, left behind during its past journeys around the sun.
Comet P/Halley as taken March 8, 1986 by W. Liller, Easter Island, part of the International Halley Watch (IHW) Large Scale Phenomena Network. (Image/NASA)
Halley's Comet is also responsible for the Orionid meteor shower, which peaks in October.
Meteor shower viewing tips
The early May meteor shower is the best of the year for stargazers in the Southern Hemisphere, where it can spark up to 50 meteors per hour, according to the American Meteor Society. The Eta Aquarids isn't as active north of the equator, but it can still produce 10-30 meteors per hour in the sky across North America, Europe and Asia.
Like many meteor showers, the best time to look for shooting stars is during the second half of the night before the light from the morning sun starts to appear in the eastern sky.
The Milky Way and three meteors in the sky over a lake. (Getty Images/j2chav)
One common misnomer about meteor showers is that you need to focus on a specific area of the sky to see the event, specifically its radiant point. However, that is not the case.
"Meteor shower radiants are sometimes misunderstood by casual meteor-watchers," EarthSky explained on its website. "You don’t need to know where they are to watch a meteor shower. That’s because the meteors fly every way across the sky, in front of numerous constellations. However, the higher a shower’s radiant appears in your sky, the more meteors you’re likely to see."
If you see a meteor and trace it backwards, it should point toward the constellation Aquarius, which is near the radiant point of the Eta Aquarids. This will rise in the eastern sky late in the night.
The next meteor showers after the Eta Aquarids are the Alpha Capricornids and the Southern Delta Aquarids, which both peak on the night of July 29-30.
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