Every class , between previous April and mid - May , Earth hurtles through rubble leave behind in the aftermath of Halley ’s Comet ( 1P / Halley ) – and it ’s place for summit view this hebdomad . The shooting star are rocky leftover and debris from the famed comet , and your serious opportunity to spot these shooting stars is in the hours before daybreak on Thursday , May 5 .
The Eta Aquarids are splendidly speedy , entering Earth ’s standard pressure at 66 kilometers ( 41 miles ) per second and producing a gamy number of glowing , persistent “ caravan ” of incandescent dust follow the meteor ’s path , lasting anywhere from several mo to minutes , fit in to theAmerican Meteor Society .
They will be well seen in the Southern Hemisphere . You will have to get up around 2 - 3 am on the morning of May 5 for the estimable view , where you could be rewarded with up to 50 shot stars an hour , NASA ’s Bill Cooke toldSpace.com .
For those in the Northern Hemisphere , you ’re looking at between 10 - 30 meteors an hour .
meteor are make out as shoot star due to the flashes of twinkle because of rubble and stone fragments – some as small as a texture of sand – burning up in the atmosphere as Earth moves through the comet ’s tail .
They are named for the constellation they seem to seem from – in this case , the configuration Aquarius . In reality , they seem from all directions in the sky so you do n’t need to wait in any fussy direction , just up .
As always , shooting stars are best viewed away from artificial light and in the hours before dawn . It also direct around 30 moment for your eyes to adjust so dress tender , take blankets , and get comfortable .
The Eta Aquarids are actually the first of two one-year meteoroid showers made up of debris from Halley ’s Comet , the other being the Orionids in October .
human race have behold the light ofHalley ’s Cometzipping across the night sky since at least 273 BCE . It even notably features in the Bayeaux Tapestry , the chronicle of the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 . However , it was n’t until 1705 that its cyclicity was discovered by Edmond Halley .
Because it take 76 years to orbit the Sun , the comet last passed by Earth visible to common viewers in 1986 and is not ask to enter our part of the inner Solar System again until 2061 .
