NASA has said that Eta Aquariid meteor shower would put on a spectacular sky show with meteor rates up to one per minute. Meteors will be streaking across the sky as Earth passes through dusty debris in space left by Halley's Comet in the annual Eta Aquariid meteor shower, with peak activity this weekend.
Eta Aquariid meteor gets its name because the origination point in the sky - called the radiant - for the debris that burns up in the atmosphere is in the constellation Aquarius - the "water bearer" - and close to Eta Aquarii, one of the constellations's brightest stars and one of the four stars that comprise the top of its "water jar," as reported by Reuters.
NASA states that Eta Aquariid meteors are exceptionally fast, travelling at approximately 148,000 miles per hour (238,000 kilometres per hour) as they enter Earth's atmosphere. These fast-moving meteors can create glowing "trains" that last for seconds to minutes.
According to the American Meteor Society, meteor rates are expected to be enhanced this year by debris being perturbed by the gas giant planet Jupiter in a direction closer to Earth.
Explaining on meteor shower, Bill Cooke, who heads NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, has said that many of the shooting stars we see this year are caused by material from Halley’s Comet that is approximately 3,000 years old. He added that when Earth crosses paths with this debris, we can see streaks of light across the sky. Sometimes, when Earth moves through dense clumps of material, a meteor outburst is experienced, resulting in a higher number of meteors visible in the sky.
As per NASA, the typical peak viewing time would normally be the night of May 4 into the morning of May 5. However, due to the outburst, May 2-6 could provide excellent skygazing opportunities. According to the American Meteor Society, the meteors can be seen during pre-dawn hours in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. The US space agency also added that the next time the eta Aquariids will outburst is about 20 years from now.
(With inputs from Reuters)