Get ready to be dazzled by another meteor shower – this time the Eta Aquarid shower – which will peak at dawn on Wednesday, 5 May. It is visible from April 19 to around May 28 each year but peaks around May 5.
The meteor shower is best enjoyed at midnight or early in the morning – but this is dependent on cloud cover and light pollution.
When meteor viewing, another factor to consider is the phase of the moon – if there is more moonlight, there is less of a show.
The Eta Aquarid meteor shower is best sighted in the Southern Hemisphere and outranks other similar star-gazing events – it is also considered one of the finest star events of the 2021 calendar.
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If you want to catch the shower at it’s most spectacular, you should try plan for an hour or two before dawn on Wednesday.
According to Nasa, the Eta Aquarid shower rains down about 30 meteors per hour during its peak. That number decreases to about 10 per hour in the northern hemisphere.
Another interesting titbit of information is these meteors don’t actually come from Aquarius. They are in actual fact debris from Halley’s Comet, which orbits our sun once every 76 years.