Stargazers this month could be in for a celestial display.
The Eta Aquarid meteor shower, which lasts until May 27, is expected to peak on Sunday and Monday nights, according to Space.com.
The best time to view it is during the pre-dawn hours, according to WTAE meteorologist Jill Szwed.
All that’s needed to watch is darkness and some patience. No special telescopes or binoculars are needed, but interested viewers should allow their eyes time to adjust to the dark.
Since the new moon occurs on May 7, Szwed said, the moon phase works in our favor to view the meteor shower, barring cloud cover.
The Eta Aquarid meteor shower occurs when the Earth makes its annual pass through chunks of space debris that come from Halley’s comet as the Earth orbits the sun.
Bill Cooke, the lead for the Meteoroid Environment Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., recommends getting outside at 2 a.m. any night.
The maximum rate for shooting stars in a clear sky will be about 50 per hour, according to the American Meteor Society.
About 10 Eta Aquarids per hour are visible in the Northern Hemisphere, Szwed said. That number could be a little higher during the shower’s peak, she said.
The next significant meteor shower for North American viewers is the Perseids in August. The Perseids brighten the skies with 50 to 100 meteors seen per hour, according to NASA.
