Eta Aquariid meteor shower to light up Australian skies in one of the best shows of the year

Eta Aquariid
Eta Aquariid

Rug up, set your alarm, and prepare to see perhaps the best sky appears over Australia this week.

The Eta Aquariid meteor shower, which happens in May every year, is one of the features of the year for prepared skywatchers.

Many other meteor showers, for instance, the ongoing Lyrids, it rewards sky watchers directly across Australia with loads of splendid meteors streaking over the sky.

The peak of the shower will be on the 6th of May morning.

The best time to see the showers is between 2 AM and 5 AM, or if the weather is not good, you can see the meteors shower a day or so before or after.

This year the Moon will influence your view a bit. However, with three shining planets in the sky, it will, in any case, be a totally wonderful sight, says beginner space expert Ian Musgrave.

“It’s going to a really nice night,” Dr. Musgrave stated.

“You’ve got the Milky Way spread out over your head and you’re looking down towards Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars.

If you have optics and live in a dull sky area, you may likewise have the option to get Comet SWAN near the eastern skyline.

The Eta Aquariids meteor shower is created as Earth passes through the dust trail laid down by Halley’s comet.

Halley’s comet circles in towards us every 76 years from somewhere out beyond Pluto.

While it was toward the end in our skies in 1986, the dust we are going through ages tens of thousands of years, stated Jonti Horner, an astronomer at the University of Southern Queensland. And because it’s so old, it’s had time to spread out.

“So we cross through this meteor stream for more than a month from April 19 to May 28,” Professor Horner stated.

In October, we cross the stream again, which is the point at which we see the Orionids meteor shower.

However, Eta Aquariid meteor shower is more amazing on the grounds that we go through the guts of the dust stream during the top so the pace of meteors is a lot higher.