The Eta Aquarid meteor shower is at its peak – here’s how to see it

If you have clear skies and want an excuse to escape the city, the Eta Aquarid meteor shower is almost at its peak and should be strong tonight. Composed of remnants of Halley’s Comet that Earth passes, this annual shower is active from April 15 to May 27 and can appear at a rate of about 10 to 30 meteors per hour, according to the American Meteor Society.

You can see the Aquarids starting around 2am local time in the Northern Hemisphere, radiating from the constellation Aquarius (although you can see I want to look 40-60 degrees around Aquarius see them). Weather permitting, conditions are very good for observing them, as the moon is in its waning period and will not reflect much light. Try planning your stargazing location using a light pollution map or consulting your local astronomical society for tips on the best places for unrestricted viewing.

How NASA writes, Eta Aquarid can be seen as “Earthgrazers” or “long meteors that appear to graze the Earth’s surface at the horizon”. They move quickly, traveling at more than 40 miles per second.

You can also bring binoculars or a telescope if you want to look at the stars, but you can see meteors with the naked eye, and trying to look for them with binoculars limits your field of view too much to be practical. Be sure to take it easy on your neck with a reclining chair or something to lay down on, too; heavy is the head that observes the stars. And dress appropriately, as it is often colder in the countryside than in the city at night.

Finally, be patient. It may take about 30 minutes for your eyes to adjust to the darkness enough to see meteors. Once they do, assuming you’re in a dark enough place, you’ll be able to see not just the meteors, but many stars and even satellites as they move across the sky.

Halley’s Comet appears, inconveniently for most, only once every 76 years. The last time it showed its tail to the inhabitants of Earth was in 1986, when I was three years old, and it will only be here again in 2061, when I am 78 years old (if I am still alive). Very rude. But at least we’ll see some of the trash he leaves behind.