Halley's Comet is bringing a meteor shower to light up the night sky on Cinco de Mayo
Skywatchers can expect an exciting month of cosmic phenomena, starting with a meteor shower to mark a beautiful start to Cinco de Mayo. The Eta Aquarids meteor shower is expected to peak in the early hours of Tuesday, May 5.
With most people stuck inside, isolating due to the coronavirus pandemic, May's celestial events present a much-needed opportunity to connect with nature.
What are the Eta Aquarids?
The Eta Aquarids meteor shower peaks each year during early May as Earth passes through the debris trail from Halley's Comet (1P/Halley). The Orionids meteor shower in October also originates from this comet.
The famous Halley's Comet is visible from Earth about every 76 years. It was last seen in 1986 and won't be visible again until 2061.
Each year, when Earth collides with the comet's orbit, vaporizing debris comes flying into our atmosphere at a whopping 148,000 miles per hour, according to NASA, making the meteors well known for their speed. Fast meteors tend to leave glowing dust "trains" behind them, producing magnificent "shooting stars."
Under normal conditions, the annual meteor shower typically produces about 30 meteors per hour. It's named for its radiant, or direction of origin, which appears to come from the constellation Aquarius.
The Eta Aquarids are one of the best meteor showers of the year for people in the Southern Hemisphere because Aquarius is higher up in the sky there. However, it is also visible in the northern hemisphere.
An image of an Eta Aquarid meteor from the NASA All Sky Fireball Network station in Tullahoma, Tennessee, in May 2013.NASA
When and where to watch the Eta Aquarids
The shower is visible in both hemispheres, with the best viewing occurring just before dawn. Locating the radiant point is not necessary for viewing — all you need to do is look up.
Viewing in the Southern Hemisphere is preferable but not necessary. From the northern hemisphere, the shooting stars often appear as "earth grazers" — long meteors that appear to skim the surface of the Earth near the horizon.
To view any meteor shower, it is always advised to escape harsh city lights and find an open area. Lie flat on your back with your feet facing east and look up, allowing about 30 minutes in the dark for your eyes to adjust.
Be patient, and don't forget a blanket!
Unfortunately, the shower is peaking very close to a full moon, so only the brightest of shooting stars will be visible. On May 7, the "Super Flower Moon" arrives just in time for the spring flowers to bloom. It will be the fourth and final supermoon of 2020.
The MonoRacer 130E Fully Enclosed Motorcycle Aims to Redefine Personal Mobility Elena Gorgan The idea of making something that would be halfway between a bicycle or motorcycle and a car is not new; after all, the advantages of such a vehicle would be many for a large segment of the market. In the Czech Republic, inventor, fabricator and full-time pilot Arnold Wagner has been making one such vehicle since the late ‘80s. Since 2009, with a new partner, he launched the PERAVES CZ company, and they’ve been putting out these cabin-motorcycles dubbed MonoRacer since then. They probably haven’t sold more than a couple of hundred of them (90 of which were made before the 2009 partnership), but that could change as early as this month. As it turns out, PERAVES CZ has made an electric version of the MonoRacer, called the MonoRacer 130E, and it is now in the process of receiving EU-certification. The MonoRacer 130E is an electric motorcycle with a fully enclosed cabi...
Many who used to visit here regularly also would visit Kat's forum. Now she has opted to say goodbye. Why? Disqus isn't what it used to be, and traffic has crawled to almost a stop. https://countrykatnc.blogspot.com/2026/05/its-finally-friday-and-final-thread.html I have been taking the last couple of months to contemplate what I want to do with this forum. I think it's time for me to step away as well. Reasons are multiple. Mainly the loss of old friends, Susan and milo but others as well that, when I check their profiles, have been inactive for months, some for a year or two. Never heard why. Just stopped coming here or anywhere on Disqus. Lack of enthusiasm and participation has been evident as well. That includes my lack of enthusiasm. I am NOT blaming anyone. I can't advertise this forum so newbies are rare. Regulars have either gone away or drop in and leave a comment or two - often, it seems, out of habit. Back n forth conversations don't happen much any mor...
Comments
Post a Comment