How to see shooting stars

The Lyrid meteor shower may be over, but your chance to see shooting stars this spring is not. The Eta Aquarids meteors arrived on April 19th and will be visible until May 28th. The peak will be reached early in the morning of May 6th.

"Visibility will be good this year," Bill Cooke, a meteorological expert at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, told NBC News MACH in an email. "There will be no moonlight to wash the weaker meteors."

While the inhabitants of the southern hemisphere will have the best chance of seeing the Eta Aquarids, the meteors will also offer a show to those from the United States and other parts of the Northern Hemisphere.

"All you need is a clear, dark sky," said Cooke, adding that – weather permitting – observers can expect to see up until the end of the day. at 40 meteors per hour during peak hours.

Eta Aquarids seem to come from the direction of a bright star called Eta Aquarii in the constellation Aquarius. But like all meteors, they are simply pieces of fast-moving dust that create bright streaks of light as they strike the Earth's atmosphere and burn.

The dust particles come from the tail of a comet – in this case Halley, which approaches the Earth every 75 years on its long elliptical orbit around the sun. Halley's comet was known in ancient times but its current name was attributed to the British astronomer Edmond Halley of the 18th century, who had noted the comet's periodic returns.

Halley's last comet arrived in 1986 and will make its next appearance in 2061. But even though the comet itself only returns periodically, the Earth crosses it each year to produce the Etar Aquarids.

No telescopes or other observation equipment is needed to see the meteor showers. Just find a dark place with a clear view of the sky and look up.

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