Where is eta aquarids meteor shower

Joe Rao. Joe Rao is an astronomer and contributes regularly to the Farmers' Almanac. A Summer Harvest Moon? Previous Post. Next Post. Recipe Rating Recipe Rating. Newest Oldest Most Voted. Inline Feedbacks. Lara Lea Newsom. Plan Your Day. Grow Your Life. This is because, more specifically, the name comes from one of the stars from this constellation: Eta Aquarii. Find out more about other meteors and meteorites around the year. Hunting for meteors, like the rest of astronomy, is a waiting game, so it's best to bring a comfy chair to sit on and to wrap up warm as you could be outside for a while.

They can be seen with the naked eye so there's no need for binoculars or a telescope, though you will need to allow your eyes to adjust to the dark. For the best conditions, you want to find a safe location away from street lights and other sources of light pollution. Find us on Instagram. Find us on Twitter. Let our practical astronomy guides, approved by Royal Observatory astronomers, help you navigate the night sky.

Visit us. Halley's Comet made its last pass through the inner solar system in and is not due back until the summer of Nonetheless, each time Halley sweeps around the sun, it leaves behind a dusty trail — call it "cosmic litter" — that ends up trailing behind the comet. And as it turns out, the orbit of Halley's Comet closely approaches the Earth's orbit at two places. One point is in the middle to latter part of October, producing a meteor display known as the Orionids.

The other point comes in the early part of May, producing the Eta Aquarids. Related: How to see the best meteor showers of Under ideal conditions a dark, moonless sky about 30 to 60 of these very swift meteors might be seen per hour at the peak of the display on May 6.

The shower appears at about one-quarter peak strength for several days before and after May 6. From places south of the equator, the Eta Aquarids put on a very good show; Australians consider them to be their best meteor display of the year.