Eta Aquariids
The Eta Aquariids are a May meteor shower from Halley's Comet, best seen from the southern hemisphere.
The Eta Aquariids peak around 5 to 6 May, with meteors appearing to come from near the star Eta Aquarii in the constellation Aquarius. They are produced by dust from Halley's Comet, as are the Orionids in October.
From the southern hemisphere and the tropics, the shower can give 40 to 60 or more meteors per hour in the hours before dawn. From the UK and other northern places, the radiant rises only shortly before sunrise, so far fewer meteors are seen. However, those that appear when the radiant is low can be long, slow-looking earthgrazers skimming the atmosphere.
Eta Aquariid meteors are fast, about 66 kilometres per second, and often leave glowing trains. The shower is a reminder that a single comet's debris stretches all around its orbit, so Earth can meet the same stream twice a year, once on the way in and once on the way out.
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Level: Explorer Ages 10 and up