Here "Cometh halley's" Dust!!!
On 5th of May, as
the earth while obediently circling its parent star for billions of years
(making kepler so proud of the heritage which he had inherited from his guru
“Tycho Brahe!!!!) comes across a patch of its orbit where Comet Halley spewed
dust during its so many earlier visits to Sun, something is going to happen for
the watchers of the heavens!! Yes you guessed it right, a meteor shower
associated with Comet Halley - Eta Aquarids is going to peek on 5th May.
The Eta Aquarid
meteor shower is the first of two showers that occur each year as a result of
Earth passing through Halley's Comet debris, with the second being the
Orionids. The point from where the meteors appear to radiate is located within
the constellation Aquarius. Sadly, this location is a bit of a drawback to
shower observers as this area in sky only rises an hour or so before morning
twilight begins whereas usually when one observes Meteor shower, the radiant is
quite high in sky during early morning.
Every year, the
earliest Eta Aquarids can be seen around April 21 and they persist until about
May 12; however, the number of meteors you are likely to see will be low until
around the time of the peak on May 5/6. At this time, observers are likely to
see about 10 meteors every hour.
Moon will not be
interfering with the shower as it would set by midnight.
Eta Aquarid meteors are known for their speed. These meteors are fast --
traveling at about 66 km/s (148,000 mph) into Earth's atmosphere. Fast meteors
can leave glowing "trains" (incandescent bits of debris in the wake
of the meteor) which last for several seconds to minutes. The Eta Aquarids are
viewable in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres during the pre-dawn
hours. The Southern Hemisphere is preferable for viewing the Eta Aquarids as
The constellation of Aquarius is higher up in the sky in the Southern
Hemisphere than it is in the Northern Hemisphere. The Northern Hemisphere has
an hourly rate of only about 10 meteors. This is due to the location of the
radiant at different latitudes.. In the Northern Hemisphere, Eta Aquarid
meteors can be seen as "earthgrazers." Earthgrazers are long meteors
that appear to skim the surface of the Earth at the horizon.
Rest of the info
about What are meteor showers and how to observe these can be found in my
earlier articles.
C B Devgun, President, SPACE Foundation
