Galactic detritus from one of mankind’s most recognized comets is falling in fireballs to Earth and is especially visible the next few days.
The Eta Aquarid light show spawned by Halley’s Comet can be seen through mid-May, but peaks in the predawn hours of Friday and Saturday, sending as many as 30 meteors per hour hurtling through our atmosphere.
Coastal South Florida is not considered an ideal viewing area for meteor showers, and this year the first quarter moon will add to the light pollution.
But the International Meteor Organization said you can avoid the waxing gibbous moon by looking on Wednesday and Thursday before the peak. The moon will be setting in the predawn hours as the radiant for the Eta Aquarids rises in the east so everyday closer to the peak will mean more lunar light pollution.
The Eta Aquarid meteor shower favors the southern hemisphere, but Alan MacRobert, senior editor of Sky and Telescope magazine, said South Florida is close enough for a good show.
“You get a better view than most of the rest of the U.S. because the meteors are coming from the southern part of the sky and the farther south you are around the curve of the Earth the more directly you are facing them as they come in,” MacRobert said.
According to NASA, the Eta Aquarids are known for moving swiftly – about 148,000 mph. But fast meteors can leaving glowing trails that last for several seconds to even minutes.
Halley’s Comet was discovered by Edmund Halley in 1705, but is believed to have been recognized for millennia. NASA says the comet is featured in the Bayeux tapestry – an embroidered cloth that depicts the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
The comet was last seen on Earth in 1986 and won’t come again until 2061.
But, each year, the planet intersects with the cast off stream of dirt, ice and sand from the comet, bringing the Eta Aquarids in May and the Orionids in October.
MacRobert said the meteorites should be visible in all parts of the sky, but they radiate from the constellation Aquarius, the water bearer.
“Be patient, and try to find a dark sky,” MacRobert said. “The best hours are before the first light of dawn.”