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Eta Aquariid Meteor Shower Peaks Overnight May 5–6

A bright waning gibbous moon will mute many faint streaks, favoring pre-dawn views from darker southern skies.

The Eta Aquariids meteor shower, which peaked in early May this year, was captured in this stunning image by astrophotographer Petr Horálek. It was taken near San Pedro de Atacama, a Chilean town about 50 km away from the Chajnantor observatory site, where APEX and ALMA, astronomical facilities co-owned by ESO, are located. The Eta Aquariids meteors are caused by leftover debris from Halley’s comet and make up the bright, arrow-like darts of light in the photo. But don’t stop there: this image is literally full to the brim of astronomical phenomena.  The luminous object towards the bottom of the sky is Venus. Above it, arranged in a satisfying line, are several planets in conjunction. Directly above Venus is Jupiter, followed by the bright red Mars, and then Saturn. Conjunctions such as this are rare, often occurring decades apart. The planets also trace the zodiacal light, the faint glow stretching like a pillar, up towards the bright stellar-dense centre of the Milky Way, our home galaxy.  Zodiacal light is often seen from dark sites like ESO observatories just after sunset, or before sunrise, and is the reflected sunlight from dust particles in the plane of the Solar System. The dust comes from asteroids, passing comets, and even from other inner Solar System planets, such as Mars. Here we see the zodiacal light paired with the red sunset over the mountains and volcanoes surrounding the Chajnantor site, a spectacular backdrop to this dreamy night sky. Link Annotated version of this image
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Overview

  • The shower, which peaks Tuesday night into early Wednesday, should show best just before sunrise as the radiant in Aquarius climbs in the eastern sky.
  • Southern Hemisphere observers may see up to about 50 meteors an hour under dark skies, while many northern locations will more likely see roughly 10 to 30.
  • Moonlight at about 84% illumination will wash out fainter meteors, so find a dark site, block the Moon with a building or hill, and give eyes 20 to 30 minutes to adapt.
  • These fast meteors are bits of Halley’s Comet striking the atmosphere at around 40 miles per second and often leaving short-lived glowing trains.
  • The Eta Aquariids remain active through May 28, giving more chances later this month as the Moon wanes toward new and skies grow darker.