Eta Aquariids meteor shower: When and where to see it in the UK | World News

The Eta Aquariid meteor shower is expected to peak in the early hours of Saturday, May 6.

Time to camp, pack your sleeping bag and get ready for a night of stargazing, as you might catch a spectacular 120-160 meteors per hour.

The Aquarid meteor shower occurs when Earth passes through the trail of debris from Halley’s Comet.

Here’s everything you need to know.

When is the η Aquariid meteor shower this year?

According to the Royal Museums Greenwich, the meteor shower is active from April 19 to May 28, but will peak this year between midnight and dawn on May 6.

“The meteor shower is like a normal shower with 50-60 meteors per hour,” said Bill Cook, head of the Meteoroid Environment Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

“Outbursts are like thunderstorms with more meteor activity than expected. Meteor storms are like tornadoes with rates of more than a thousand meteors per hour.”

Where did the Aquarid meteor shower get its name?

The Aquarid meteor shower usually peaks in early May each year and is notable for its speed.

Eta Aquariid gets its name from the constellation in the night sky from which it seems to radiate – Aquarius.

But the name isn’t called the Aquarids, but rather from a star in the constellation, Eta Aquariids.

The Aquarids are one of two meteor showers caused by fragments of Comet Halley.

Comet Halley is visible from Earth every 76 years or so.

“The space debris fragment that interacted with our atmosphere to produce the Aquarid meteor shower came from Comet 1P/Halley,” NASA’s website states.

Halley’s Comet was first discovered by British astronomer Edmund Halley in 1705.

He predicted the comet’s orbit from past observations of the comet, showing that the sightings were actually all of the same comet.

As we all know, Halley’s Comet is the most famous comet, last seen in 1986.

NASA says it will return in 2061, on a regular 76-year journey around the sun.

How can I see it in the UK?

The Eta Aquariids meteor shower can be seen in both the northern and southern hemispheres, but NASA says the highest visibility will be in the southern hemisphere.

“This is due to the radiant being in the constellation Aquarius. Meteors will be observed after midnight, but peak hours are 3-4 am until dawn,” NASA said.

The Royal Museums Greenwich website says: “This meteor shower favors the southern hemisphere and will appear low in northern latitudes such as the UK in the early pre-dawn hours.”

For the best view you can do the following:

• Be sure to check the weather forecast! If it’s cloudy, try the day before or after peak viewing time.

The Met Office says Friday will be a day of sunshine and showers.

Saturday will be another cloudy and wet day for many across the UK.

Therefore, if you want to catch the η Aquariid meteor shower, you must prepare in advance.

NASA also recommends that people:

• Stay as far away from city lights as possible for the best view of the shower.

• Give yourself 30 minutes of dark time to allow your eyes to adjust.

• Don’t look at your phone—again, away from light.

• Try not to look at the moon.

Last but not least, be comfortable! The best way to do stargazing is to lie down and watch the night sky.

Read more from Sky News:
The world’s first artificial meteor display
Elon Musk’s call for a moratorium on AI development is ‘wrong’

What is a meteor shower?

Simply put, a meteor Showers are space rocks or meteoroids that enter the Earth’s atmosphere.

“If the space rock were falling toward Earth, the drag, or drag, of the air above the rock would make it very hot. What we see is a ‘shooting star.'”

NASA said: “That bright streak is not actually rock, but the glowing air emitted by hot rock as it passes through the atmosphere.”

“When the Earth encounters many meteoroids at the same time, we call it a meteor shower,” it added.

Here are some meteor showers over the years