The Eta Aquariid Meteor Shower (aka The Aquariids), which is associated to Halley’s Comet, will be visible in the night sky until the end of the current month. We’re talking about a meteor shower that shows itself every year and that is capable of producing up to 160 meteors per hour.
Perhaps the best part about The Aquariids is that you don’t necessarily need binoculars in order to admire the celestial show. Although it would be even better to watch it using binoculars, of course, it’s also a great idea to witness the spectacle with the naked eye. The only mandatory condition is for the sky to be clear in the area where you live.
The Aquariids will peak on May 5
If you are diligent enough to wake up on the morning of May 5, you’ll get to witness the peak of The Aquariids meteor shower unfolding above your head. If you’re lucky enough, you might even spot a few fireballs in the night sky. The Moon will also dominate the sky, but even so, you shouldn’t worry about not getting to admire the meteor shower in question.
Bill Cooke, who is the lead of the Meteoroid Environments Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, explained as SciTechDaily quotes:
A meteor shower is like a normal rain shower, with 50-60 meteors per hour,
An outburst is like a thunderstorm, with greater than normal meteor activity expected. A meteor storm is like a tornado, where meteor rates are over one thousand per hour.
Meteor showers dominating the night sky every year don’t represent anything new. Space rocks constantly pass by our planet, although a very small percentage of them even make it to the surface. Luckily, nature has been very generous with us, granting us a few powerful protective layers against dangerous space rocks.
