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Throughout the year, as the Earth revolves around the sun, it passes through streams of cosmic debris. The resulting meteor showers can light up the night skies from dusk to dawn, and if you’re lucky you’ll be able to take a look.
The next rain you can see is known as Eta Aquariids, and also sometimes called Eta Aquarids. Active from April 19 to May 28, it is expected to be in full swing from Monday night through Tuesday morning, or May 4-5.
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Where do meteor showers come from
If you see a meteor shower, what you are usually seeing are the leftovers of an icy comet hitting Earth’s atmosphere. Comets are like dirty snowballs: As they travel through the solar system, they leave a dusty trail of rocks and ice that remains in space long after they leave. When Earth passes through these waterfalls of comet debris, the fragments of debris, which can be as small as grains of sand, pierce the sky at speeds so high that they explode, creating a display of celestial fireworks.
A general rule of thumb with meteor showers: Earth is never seen crossing debris from a comet’s most recent orbit. Instead, the fiery bits come from the previous passes. For example, during the Perseid meteor shower you see meteors ejected from when their parent comet, the Swift-Tuttle comet, visited in 1862 or earlier, not since their most recent passage in 1992.
This is because debris from a comet’s orbit takes time to move to a position where it intersects Earth’s orbit, according to Bill Cooke, astronomer at NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office.
How to look
The best way to see a meteor shower is to get to a place that has a clear view of the entire night sky. Ideally, that would be somewhere with dark skies, away from city lights and traffic. To maximize your chances of seeing the show, find a location that offers a wide, unobstructed view.
Small chunks of meteor shower can be seen for a certain period of time, but they actually reach a visible peak from dusk to dawn in a few days. Those days are when Earth’s orbit crosses the thickest part of the cosmic current. Meteor showers can vary during their peak hours, with some peaking for a few hours and others for several nights. Rains tend to be more visible after midnight and before sunrise.
Better to use your naked eye to detect a meteor shower. Binoculars or telescopes tend to limit your field of vision. It may take about half an hour in the dark for your eyes to get used to the reduced light. Star gazers should be warned that moonlight and weather can obscure the shows. But if that happens, there are usually live streams of meteorites like those organized by NASA and Slooh.
