Best Times for Australians to View the Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower

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Key Points

The Eta Aquarids meteor shower started on 19 April and will run through late May.
During its peak, you can witness up to 50 meteors per hour.
Australia is one of the best locations to see significant meteor activity during the Eta Aquarids shower.

Although Halley’s Comet won’t return to Earth’s vicinity until 2061, it brings a beautiful meteor display next week for sky watchers to enjoy.

During the peak of the Eta Aquarids meteor shower, up to 50 meteors may blaze across the sky every hour.

This meteor shower has been active since 19 April and will continue until 28 May, with the optimal viewing time being in early May.

Halley’s Comet and the Eta Aquarids

Halley’s Comet was last visible in Earth’s skies in 1986.

The comet’s relative fame is because observations of it helped astronomers understand that comets could make return trips to the night skies.

An image of Halley's Comet as it streaked through the sky, visible to those on Earth in 1986.

Halley’s Comet is visible from Earth every 76 years. Source: Getty / Getty Images/Getty Images

Each time Halley returns to the inner solar system, it sprays ice and rock into space, creating a debris stream that results in meteor showers.

This happens two times each year; in May it is known as the Eta Aquarids and in October it is called the Orionids.

Astronomer Natasha Hurley-Walker from Curtin University said the Eta Aquarids got their name from the the Aquarius constellation — that which the meteors appear to come from, even though the stars themselves are much further away than the meteors.

The meteor shower takes place “as the Earth moves through a stream of debris originating from a specific part of the sky; once we’ve passed through it, the shower concludes for the year,” she explained.

Best places to view the Eta Aquarids

If conditions are clear, those in Australia could get a pretty impressive view of the Eta Aquarids meteor shower, the United States’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has reported.

“The southern hemisphere is preferable for viewing the Eta Aquarids,” the space agency’s website reads.

Those in the northern hemisphere will have the potential to see about a fifth of the meteors those in the southern hemisphere may get to see.

What stargazers should know

Hurley-Walker said people wanting to view the meteors don’t need any special equipment.

“You don’t need binoculars, you don’t need a telescope, but dark skies really help. So, if you can, get away from the city lights,” she said.

Hurley-Walker said to keep in mind that the meteor shower would be visible in the northern skies from Australia, so for the best views, you would want to avoid having too much light coming from the north.

“Ensure there’s no large suburb or city directly north of your location to help minimize light pollution; try to get away from urban areas if possible, though the sky doesn’t need to be completely dark,” she advised.

A meteor shower in a starry night sky as seen behind silhouetted Joshua trees.

The Eta Aquarids meteor shower as seen on 5 May 2024. Source: Anadolu / Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images

Hurley-Walker said that, while the Eta Aquarids happens every year, it was not easy to predict how visibly impressive a meteor shower may be.

“The rocks, they’re pretty small, we’re talking anything from dust grains all the way up to things the size of your fist, or maybe up to maybe a meter across,” she said.

“Because it’s just dust and stuff in space, we can’t see it until it hits the atmosphere and that means that some years are great and some years are a little bit of a washout, we really can’t tell until it happens.”

When you’ll be able to see the Eta Aquarids

Melbourne stargazer Arun Chandran, who runs a Facebook page for amateur astronomers, says those in Australia could get a few hours of meteor shower viewing at its peak — if skies are clear.

The early hours of 7 May will be when the most impressive meteor activity will likely take place across much of Australia.

Chandran suggests the prime time for people in most parts of Australia to view the meteor shower will be between 2am and 5.40am.

“Because of the way the earth moves through the debris field, the peak in WA will be a day earlier than the rest of the country,” he said.

Chandran said that, in Western Australia, the window of time to see the most meteor activity would be 6 May from 1.50am to 6.10am.

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