Many times a year, hundreds of shooting stars light up clear night skies. But they don’t really have anything to do with stars. These small space particles are meteoroids\u00a0and are literally celestial debris.<\/p>\n
Some meteor showers occur at the same time every year. Some of the more famous annual meteor showers have been observed by humans for hundreds of thousands of years.<\/p>
The\u00a0Eta Aquarids will start on April 20 and last through May 21, but your best chance to see the meteors will be between 5 and 7 May\u00a0in the early hours of the morning as this shower will be best seen from the Southern Hemisphere.<\/p>\n
People in the Southern Hemisphere will be able to see about 30 meteors per hour, while people in the Northern Hemisphere will see about 10 per hour.<\/p>
If you want to catch a glimpse, NASA says\u00a0it’s best to get yourself far outside the city away from any light pollution.<\/p>\n
Meteoroids in the Eta Aquarids are actually remnants from Halleys Comet. It is called\u00a0Eta Aquarids\u00a0because you can see it in the same area of the sky as the constellation of Aquarius.<\/p>\n
It takes the comet about 75 years\u00a0to travel around the sun, but Earth passes through the tail of the comet around April and October every year. Pieces of debris from the comet’s tail burn up as they hit the Earth’s atmosphere.\u00a0The result is a spectacular light show of meteors.<\/p>\n
The annual Lyrid meteor shower is active each year from about April 16 to 25. This year, the peak of this shower \u2013 which tends to come in a burst and usually lasts for less than a day \u2013 is expected on the morning of April 22. The timing couldn\u2019t be worse as the peak of the Lyrid shower comes at virtually the same hour as the April full moon.<\/p>\n
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