It’s May, which means the trees are greener, the days are longer, and the nights are a little warmer. That’s perfect for spotting a meteor shower—and not just any shower: the Eta Aquarids are hitting their peak tonight, May 5, in a crescendo that will last through May 6.
At its zenith, sky-gazers can expect to see as many as 50 meteors an hour under optimal conditions, although NASA warns that fainter meteors may be eclipsed by bright moonlight this year.
These meteors are known for their fast clip, speeding across the sky at 40 miles per second. That makes for particularly spectacular visuals: the meteors leave glowing trails that can be seen for an instant after the initial flash of light.
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Meteor showers are the beautiful product of cosmic debris. As Earth orbits the sun, it passes through a trail of dust and rocks falling from asteroids and comets as they, too, make their way around the star. When this debris hits Earth’s atmosphere, it burns up, creating bright shooting stars that appear to streak across the sky.
The Eta Aquarids, also called the Eta Aquariids, get their name from the point in the sky that they appear to originate from—an area near Eta Aquarii, the brightest star in the Aquarius constellation. But the meteors are actually generated by Halley’s Comet, which is also known as Comet 1P/Halley. It takes its name from astronomer and mathematician Edmond Halley, a friend of Isaac Newton. In 1705 Halley published a paper using Newton’s theories about gravity to show that the comet was periodic: it returns to the inner solar system every 76 years or so, at which time it can be seen from Earth with the naked eye.
The comet as depicted by the Bayeux Tapestry, which was constructed in the 1070s C.E.
Public Domain
Halley observed the comet himself in 1682, but it has been seen throughout history; the earliest recorded sighting was by Chinese astronomers in 240 B.C.E. Perhaps one of the most historically famous instances was that of C.E. 1066, when the comet was spotted by sky-gazers in England and interpreted as an omen predicting the subsequent defeat of the Anglo-Saxon king at the Battle of Hastings by William the Conqueror of Normandy—the episode was memorialized in a medieval work of art known as the Bayeux Tapestry.
It’s been 40 years since Halley’s Comet passed through the inner solar system, and it won’t do so again until 2061. In 1986 the European Space Agency’s Giotto spacecraft returned images of the comet’s nucleus, and two Soviet Union probes and two Japanese spacecraft also imaged the comet that year.
Comet Halley, as seen by the European Space Agency's Giotto spacecraft in 1986.
ESA
The annual Eta Aquarid shower is best seen each year during early and mid-May.
For the best viewing experience, stake out a spot somewhere dark and far from artificial lights. Allow around 20 minutes to let your eyes adjust to the darkness; that means avoiding bright lights such as your phone screen. The meteors will be most visible from the Northern Hemisphere on May 5 and May 6 in the hours before dawn, so make sure you’re facing east and looking up before sunrise and enjoy the show.