Eta Aquarid meteor shower from Halley’s Comet peaks over Flintshire on Wednesday
A meteor shower made from the debris of Halley’s Comet will peak over Flintshire skies before dawn on Wednesday morning.
The Eta Aquarid shower is active until the end of May, but the best viewing falls in the early hours of 6 May.
The meteors are tiny pieces of rock and dust shed by Halley’s Comet on its 76-year orbit around the Sun.
The comet was last seen from Earth in 1986 and is not due to return until 2061.
When Earth passes through the comet’s debris trail each spring, the particles burn up in the upper atmosphere and produce the streaks of light we see as shooting stars.
The Eta Aquarids are fast meteors travelling at around 65 kilometres a second, and they often leave glowing trails behind them.
From Flintshire and the rest of the UK, the shower is at its best between roughly 2am and dawn on Wednesday, looking low in the south-east.
The point in the sky from which the meteors appear to come, known as the radiant, sits low on the horizon at northern latitudes.
That means UK observers will see fewer meteors than people in the Southern Hemisphere, with hourly rates expected to be in single figures rather than the 30 or more visible further south.
A bright waning gibbous moon will be in the sky through the peak hours, washing out fainter meteors.
The forecast for Flintshire on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning is cloudy with a small chance of rain, so clear gaps in the sky will make the difference between seeing meteors and seeing none.
The best chance of a clear view is from a dark spot away from street lights and traffic.
Local dark-sky locations include Loggerheads Country Park, Halkyn Mountain and higher ground in the Clwydian Range.
Eyes take around 20 minutes to adjust to the dark, so observers are advised to arrive early and avoid looking at phone screens.
The Eta Aquarids are one of two annual meteor showers produced by Halley’s Comet, with the second, the Orionids, peaking in October.
Credt: NASA/MSFC/B. Cooke
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