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In the absence of a moon to watch, try to see what could be one of the best meteor showers of the year.
The radiant Eta Aquariid is shown here from 30 ° north latitude (Houston, Cairo, Delhi, Shanghai) 90 minutes before sunrise. Further north, the radiation is lower when the sky begins to be clear. Shower members can appear anywhere in the sky, but they all follow their way back up to the radiant.
Sky and telescope
If you have not paid much attention to the Eta Aquariid shower due to its late hour, it's time to commit yourself. These quick pellets of the Aquarius constellation could be the last good meteor show for the rest of the year.
You can blame the moon. The richest showers – the August Perseids and the Geminids of December – will be hit hard in the moonlight this year. In both cases, the Moon will be almost whole and will rise almost all night. Even the October Orionids will only limp through a last quarter moon.
A luminous Aquariid Eta passes under Corona Australis on May 5, 2014.
Frankie Lucena
In the tropical and southern latitudes, the Eta Aquariid shower is a solid hit with a peak of 40 meteors per hour. For observers of northern latitudes, this number will be closer to 10-20 because the radiation only rises to 15 ° -25 ° before the beginning of the morning penumbra. The maximum occurs Sunday morning, May 5, in the early hours before dawn begins. This means that you will have to look out about 3 am to 4:30 pm To make sure you do not miss this window, click here to know the sunrise time and make a backup of about 1 hour and 40 minutes to tell you the beginning of the morning. dusk. Then go back an hour more to have time to look at the shower under a dark sky.
Several years ago, I had a wonderful experience with Eta Aquariids. The meteors appeared at a steady pace until morning twilight, tore the sky at incredible speed and left beautiful trains. Indeed, the stream produces fast meteors with a speed of about 67 km / s, equal with their shower sister, Orionids and Leonids zipped. Although I saw only a dozen or so, each had character.
Eta Aquariids are features of Halley's comet. The disturbances caused by the planets and the sun caused the particles to disperse into a ribbon centered on Halley's orbit. Earth traverses debris from the outgoing branch of the comet's orbit every May and the incoming leg every month of October.
Bob King
The Orionids and Eta Aquariids are two sides of the same coin, as they are both fragments of Halley's comet. The Earth crosses the trajectory of the comet twice a year, a first in May, when meteors flock near the star Eta Aquarii, and again late October, when the dust of Halley becomes the Orionids. On May 5, the comet is a 26th magnitude 35 BC blimp. (5.2 billion km) from the Earth, located 6 degrees west of Hydra's head, the water snake. He reached Aphelion on December 9, 2023. Until his return in 2061, we will have these two showers to remind us that he is still hiding in the dark.
Given the low altitude of the radiant, pay attention to the Earthgrazers long before the radiant rises. These are slower meteors that rise from the horizon, scanning the atmosphere and blazing for several seconds before fading. The best time to see them is in the late evening and very early in the morning before the peak.
This diagram shows the location of Halley's comet and its orbit at the top of this year's Eta Aquariid shower.
JPL / Horizons
To make the most of the shower, use this interactive map of light pollution to locate the darkest possible outside the city. Bring a recliner (or lie flat on your back), a blanket to warm you up and a pair of eyes. Locations with unobstructed views are the best. As with all meteor showers, you do not need to look at the radiant to catch an Aquariid Eta. The perspective causes meteors in this direction to appear short. Tilt your chair to the south or northeast and you'll see the "shooting stars" sideways, where they display longer and more spectacular trails. Speaking of which, these fast meteors are known to produce persistent trains, long lasting ionized air streaks that shine for a second or two after the meteoroid vaporization.
If the weather is mild Sunday, the shower will show a good activity from May 4 to May 6, so you will have more than one morning to spy on a fiery Halley-mote. While you're out, you'll also enjoy a spectacular view of the Milky Way in the summer before the mosquitoes arrive and see Venus appear low in the south-east at dawn.
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