One of the fastest meteor showers of the year is nearly upon us – and you don’t want to miss it.
Up to 50 ‘shooting stars’ will streak through the night sky every hour when the Eta Aquariid meteor shower peaks just before dawn tomorrow.
These meteors are debris from the famous Halley’s comet and enter Earth’s atmosphere at speeds of up to 70 kilometres per second (156,000 mph).
Stargazers in the UK should look southwards towards the constellation Aquarius at around 4am tomorrow morning – just before dawn – for a glimpse of the shooting stars, astronomers say.
They will appear quite low in the sky but often leave lingering trails behind them.
They can be seen with the naked eye so there’s no need for binoculars or a telescope, though you will need to allow your eyes to adjust to the dark.
While people in the southern hemisphere will get a much better view, those that do appear in the UK could still be breathtaking.
For the best viewing conditions, you should find a safe location away from street lights and other sources of light pollution.
Those who want to spot the meteors should look south towards the Aquarius constellation in the early hours before dawn, experts say
A composite taken over three nights using two cameras, of the Eta Aquariids meteor shower in 2013
A meteor shower happens when Earth passes through the path of a comet – icy, rocky bodies left over from the formation of the solar system.
When this happens, the bits of comet debris, most no larger than a grain of sand, create streaks of light in the night sky as they burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.
These streaks are known as shooting stars, even though they are not stars at all.
The frequency of shooting stars – how many you see in a given period of time –depends on the meteor shower.
But in the case of the Eta Aquariids, in ideal conditions you might see up to 50 or 60 meteors per hour.
The shower takes place between April 19 and May 28 but it is expected to dazzle UK skies tonight.
The cosmic display is the result of Earth flying through a cloud of debris left behind by Halley’s Comet during its last journey through the inner solar system in 1986.
Don Pollacco, a physics professor at the University of Warwick, said: ‘The meteors are best seen in the predawn hours by sitting comfortably and looking south about halfway from the horizon to the overhead position.’
A meteor shower happens when Earth passes through the path of a comet – icy, rocky bodies left over from the formation of the solar system
An image of an Eta Aquarid meteor from the NASA All Sky Fireball Network station in Tullahoma, Tennessee, in May 2013
He explained that as comets orbit the Sun, the heat and radiation pressure evaporate material from the icy cometary nucleus – which we see as a comet’s tail.
‘The gas and dust created stay in the comet’s orbit, even long after the comet has moved on,’ he said.
‘If the Earth passes through the comet’s orbit, any material deposited by the comet could become meteors or shooting stars in the sky.
‘These bodies are usually the size of dust particles, but when they fall into the Earth’s atmosphere, they are traveling so fast that they are vapourised.
‘Along the path that the dust particle travels, the gas molecules are superheated and give out light – this is a meteor.
‘We don’t actually see the dust, we instead see its vapourised effects on the molecules.
‘As the Earth is crossing the comet orbit, the meteors all seem to be coming from the same direction – called the radiant.’
The Eta Aquariid meteor shower is one of two annual displays from the debris of Halley’s Comet. The other is the Orionid meteor shower, which peaks around October 21.
According to Met Office cloud cover maps, clear skies are forecast across most of the UK at 4am on Tuesday
According to Met Office cloud cover maps, clear skies are forecast across most of the UK at 4am on Tuesday (May 6), with patchy cloud above northern Scotland and across the east of England.
Experts at the UK’s National Space Centre, in Leicester, recommended spending 20 minutes outside first to let your eyes adjust to the dark.
‘To view the Eta Aquariids from the UK, head outside anytime after midnight on the night of the 5/6 May,’ their website reads.
‘This year the peak coincides with the Moon in its waxing gibbous phase which will be up through the night setting around 3:00 in the morning.
‘So ideally, you want to head out in the few hours before sunrise to avoid moonlight interference.
‘If it’s cloudy, you can always try your luck on a nearby day. The Eta Aquariids are active from 19 April – 28 May.
‘So find a dark sky area, wrap up warm, and allow 20 minutes for your eyes to adjust to the dark and scan the skies to enjoy the shooting stars using only the optical tool nature gave you – your eyes!’
