meteor showers in southern skies this week

[miriam_e]

An interesting message was posted to an Australian science list I'm on. I've put it behind the cut below. It tells about some meteor showers visible in pre-dawn skies this week. It should be fairly spectacular. The last time this happened I set up a folding bed outside with a doona over me and lay and watched the fireworks for a few hours. Try to be somewhere away from clouds.

It will peak on the 5th of May (patchworkkid's birthday).

Celestial fireworks in our skies this week

Casual sky watchers across Australia can watch the Southern hemisphere's best meteor shower peak in activity this week, with meteors impacting the Earth's atmosphere at 66 kilometers per second (not a mis-print). Known as the eta-Aquarid meteor shower, it will peak in activity on the morning of Thursday May 5.

Mr Paul Floyd, Science teacher, Astronomy educator and www.paulfloyd.id.au webmaster said, "Don’t miss the Southern Hemisphere’s most reliable meteor shower - the eta-Aquarid meteor shower. It is active in 2005 from April 19 to May 28 with a peak on the morning of Thursday May 5. You don't need specialist equipment to watch the shower - just the willingness to get up in the pre-dawn sky to watch meteors zip across the sky. Expect to see up to 60 meteors per hour under ideal conditions on the day of the peak. Either side of the peak, from May 3 to 10, you can expect to see upwards of 30 per hour. The activity rate will taper away before and after this period."

"Believe it or not, this light show can be traced back to the billion year old dust from Halley's Comet. Every 76 years or so, Halley’s Comet has swept through the inner Solar System. The iceberg (or what astronomers call the nucleus) that marks the heart of Halley's Comet has been slowly melted under the Sun's glare and released vast quantities of gas and dust. Every Autumn, the Earth travels through this diffuse cloud of dust. These tiny particles of dust (up to the size of a small pea) slam into the Earth’s atmosphere, travelling at 66 kilometres per second or some 237,600 kilometres per hour. As they do, the friction created by the dust travelling at such tremendous speed heats the surrounding atmosphere to such a degree that it glows. These often bright streaks of light are known as meteors or shooting stars.

Mr Floyd concluded, "Meteor showers are usually named after the constellation from which they radiate. In Autumn, the meteors produced by the dust from Halley’s Comet appear to radiate from the constellation Aquarius 'The Water Bearer'. To observe the eta-Aquarids, simply get up a few hours before dawn any day this week (Thursday would be ideal), face to the North East and wait. A detailed information sheet (including a finder chart) on the eta-Aquarid meteor shower can be found on my site at
http://www.paulfloyd.id.au ."

Comments

[hestia.livejournal.com]

This is the second morning in a row that I've been up pre-dawn. Now I know what to do with myself if it happens again. Thanks for the heads up. :)

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

You are very welcome.
By the way, I have stolen your LJ name for use in a screenplay recently. If it gets bought you might see TV show in the future with someone talking on a phone with a "Mrs Hestia". :)
I needed a name and it just kinda popped in. It was only afterward I realised where I got it from.

[patchworkkid.livejournal.com]

Coooooooool...

[damien-wise.livejournal.com]

Very cool.
I'll try to have a look for it if I'm up at the right time.

I remember seeing Halley's Comet years ago...it wasn't spectacular from suburbia but was still worth the effort.

Also, I've always wondered whether the larger comets build-up a trail of debris. This news conclusively answers that question...ta! :)