Meteor shower to clash with full moon Friday night
The Eta Aquarid meteor shower will ignite this weekend as ancient debris from Halley's Comet hits the Earth, but the full moon could hinder viewing conditions.
The night of May 5-6 will feature the peak of the Eta Aquarid meteor shower. The shower will be contested by the Flower Moon on the same night, but here’s how you can still see meteors.
The night sky has been ablaze as of late with an outburst of northern lights, the Lyrid meteor shower and a nighttime launch of a massive SpaceX rocket from Florida. Astronomy experts say that another celestial show will add an extra sparkle to the night sky at the end of the week, one that is connected to one of the most famous comets in history.
The Eta Aquarid meteor shower, the final meteor shower of spring, will reach its peak late on Friday, May 5, into the early hours of Saturday, May 6. It is typically the best meteor shower of the year for the Southern Hemisphere with up to 60 shooting stars per hour, while skywatchers in the Northern Hemisphere can often count between 10 and 30 per hour.
A meteor lights up the sky over the top of a mountain ridge near Park City, Utah. (NASA/Bill Dunford)
This year, the Eta Aquarids will have some competition in the sky, as it will culminate on the same night as the Flower Moon.
Brilliant moonlight will outshine most of the meteors associated with the shower, significantly reducing the number of shooting stars that can be spotted on peak night. Still, patient stargazers should still be able to spot up to 10 meteors per hour from dark areas.
For the highest chance of spotting shooting stars, the American Meteor Society (AMS) recommends heading outside after 2 a.m., local time, as the height of the meteor activity is expected in the hours before daybreak Saturday. Additionally, onlookers should watch darker areas of the sky where the moon is out of sight.
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After the Eta Aquarids, the next meteor shower is not predicted to take place until the Southern Delta Aquarids at the end of July.
Meteor shower originates from Halley's Comet
Almost every meteor shower can be traced back to a comet. As they orbit around the sun, comets release clouds of grain-sized particles, and when the Earth encounters the cosmic debris, it creates a meteor shower.
The debris that sparks the annual Eta Aquarids originates from the famous Halley's Comet, which orbits the sun once every 76 years.
"Many of these particles have been orbiting for over two thousand years," the AMS explained.
The comet, named after English astronomer Edmond Halley, is also responsible for the Orionid meteor shower, a popular astronomy event in the mid-October sky that is on par with the Eta Aquarids for skywatchers in North America.
Halley's Comet will not return to the inner solar system until 2061, so the annual Eta Aquarids and Orionids are two other ways to enjoy one of the most well-known celestial objects until it returns in 38 years.
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