The Eta Aquarid Meteor Shower of 2021 Peaks this Week. Here's How to See it.
Anti-aristarchus writes:
Coming up. The Eta Aquarid meteor shower. You should take in a shower.
Early Thursday morning (May 6), just before dawn begins to light up the eastern sky, we'll have an opportunity to see some of the remnants of the most famous of comets briefly light up the early morning sky.
Halley's Comet made its last pass through the inner solar system in 1986 and is not due back until the summer of 2061. 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.
Fascinating. Did you know that Mark Twain was born when Halley's passed, and died when it returned?
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