The Eta Aquarids shower will reach its peak of activity next night. Astronomers predict that this year's rain may be the strongest since the beginning of the century. Check whether the weather will be favorable for observations.
Eta Aquarids is one of the most famous spring meteor showers. It is associated with the famous Halley's Comet. It attracts most observers in the southern hemisphere, where shooting stars can be observed all night long. The phenomenon will also be visible in Poland if the sky is cloudless.
Climbing stars
Observing Eta Aquarids north of the equator is difficult because of the time at which its radiant rises – the point from which meteors appear to “fly”. This year, this moment will fall around 2 a.m. on Monday, i.e. after astronomical dawn. Therefore, we cannot count on a perfectly black observation background. In addition, the sky will become increasingly brighter.
However, such a low radiant has its advantages. As Adam Hurcewicz from the blog “O cosmos i astronautyce” explained, thanks to this, the Eta Aquarids seem to fly upwards from near the horizon, leaving long, spectacular streaks behind them.
“Sometimes an Eta Aquarid can fly halfway across the sky, or even more, up to the zenith,” he explained. – “The time of the most beautiful meteors has come!”
Eta Aquarids – how to observe?
The maximum is expected on the night of May 5-6, before dawn – it is best to start observations around 2 a.m., away from city lights. We should turn our eyes to the east. Hunting for shooting stars will be made easier by the fact that the Moon is currently very close to the new moon phase. In our latitudes, we can expect several or a dozen or so meteors per hour.
To view the swarm, of course, you will need favorable weather, including a cloudless sky. However, forecasters predict that there will be variable cloud cover the coming night, with only a few showers remaining it's raining and thundering.
IMWM, About space and astronautics, tvnmeteo.pl
Main photo source: Shutterstock | illustrative photo