A cosmic light show will stun Australia this end of the week when the Eta Aquariid meteor shower streaks across the night sky.
Anybody in Australia – expecting they have a clear climate – will want to see the showcase on both Saturday and Sunday evenings, with the main meteor apparent from around 1.30 am Saturday and expanding in recurrence sometime before dawn.
Researchers say the meteor shower will be at its best on Saturday and Sunday mornings; however, keen stargazers may as yet see it ahead of schedule one week from now (until May 10), and it will stay dynamic until May 27.
Skywatchers, get out your telescopes! đ
— NASA Atmosphere (@NASAAtmosphere) May 5, 2022
Tonight and early tomorrow more is the eta Aquariid meteor shower, which is caused by the annual encounter with debris from Halleyâs comet. âď¸
Learn more: https://t.co/PAbBtc6Fd1 pic.twitter.com/kdmPwbyefL
As indicated by NASA, the Eta Aquariids, named after the Aquarius constellation, are the cosmic scraps of excellent Halley’s comet, noticeable from Earth at regular intervals. (It last showed up in 1986 and is next expected in 2061.)
The Aquariids are made out of smidgens of ice and rock that disintegrated from Halley many a long time back.
At the point when the comet pieces slam into Earth’s climate, the contact raises them to the white intensity and produces the ‘falling star’ result.
It is one of two meteor showers delivered from the flotsam and jetsam of Halley’s comet, with the Orionid shower to continue in October.
The Eta Aquariids are known for their speed – which, NASA says, can reach practically 240,000km/h and the long and brilliant paths that will remain overhead lengthy after they pass.
Stargazers could see somewhere in the range of 20 and 50 meteors each hour at the shower’s pinnacle. With the shower arriving at its most elevated point over the southern half of the globe, NASA says Australians will have the absolute best perspectives on the planet.
Nonetheless, weather conditions could dampen the show, so look out on downpour radars and keep your fingers crossed (particularly the star children of Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide) that the downpour remains away; you just get showers of the divine kind.
