Several times a year, hundreds of celestial fireballs light up the night skies during meteor showers. While one of the most well-known meteor showers - The Perseids - will be occurring in August, you do not have to wait that long to admire the phenomenon yourself.
A meteor shower called the Eta Aquarid will peak at the end of this week, with the best viewing times occurring overnight on Friday, and early Saturday. The Eta Aquarid shower occurs every year roughly late April to mid-May, and offers stunning views of 'shooting stars' in the night sky.
This year, the shower will peak on the evening of May 5. The meteors originate from Eta Aquarii – one of the brightest stars in the Aquarius constellation. For people in mid to northern latitudes, the radiant won't be very high in the sky, so you should be able to spot the meteors on the southern horizon.
Observers in the southern hemisphere will have the best view, and will see the shower's radiant in the north. In a post on its website, NASA said:
“The constellation of Aquarius - home to the radiant of the Eta Aquarids - is higher up in the sky in the Southern Hemisphere than it is in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Northern Hemisphere, Eta Aquarid meteors can more often be seen as "earthgrazers." Earthgrazers are long meteors that appear to skim the surface of the Earth at the horizon.”
Tonight, the moon – which can wash out meteors with its bright light – will have already set by the time the meteor shower is on the horizon. Without this moonlight, skywatchers will have a better chance of spotting the shooting stars. Meteor showers occur when a comet comes close to the sun and produces debris - meteoroids - that spread around the comet's orbit.
The Earth experiences a meteor shower when the Earth's orbit coincides with the comet's. Since meteoroids that create a meteor shower all move on a parallel path, and at the same speed, they seem to originate from a single point in the sky to observers on Earth, known as the radiant. While the Eta Aquarids don't produce as many meteors per hour as the famous Perseid meteor shower in August, the shooting stars themselves are usually brighter.
NASA added:
“To view the Eta Aquarids find an area well away from city or street lights. Come prepared with a sleeping bag, blanket or lawn chair. Lie flat on your back with your feet facing east and look up, taking in as much of the sky as possible. After about 30 minutes in the dark, your eyes will adapt and you will begin to see meteors. Be patient - the show will last until dawn, so you have plenty of time to catch a glimpse.”