On May 5-6, the Eta Aquarid meteor shower will peak. It will be possible to observe many flying stars in an hour. However, to see them, you need to wake up before dawn.
Eta Aquariids
From April 19 to May 28, the Eta Aquarid meteor shower is observed. Throughout this time, you can see stars flying out of a region of space called the radiant, which is located in the constellation Aquarius.
In 2025, the Eta Aquariids will peak on May 5-6. At this time, the ZHR will be 50, but in reality, they will be much less visible. At the same time, the stream remains rather little known and unpopular.
The reason is that it is better to watch it from the Southern Hemisphere, while in the Northern Hemisphere the observing conditions are much worse. The radiant of the Eta Aquariids rises above the horizon two hours before dawn. So in order to admire them, you have to wake up at 2-3 am and go stargazing, which may seem too difficult for most people.
Eta Aquariids and Halley’s Comet
Perhaps the most interesting feature of the Eta Aquariids is their source. It is none other than the famous Halley’s Comet. It is the first “tailed star” that has been proven to return to the Sun with a certain periodicity. Its aphelion is located far beyond the orbit of Uranus, but when it approaches the Sun, it is twice as close to it as the Earth, and at this point, it becomes extremely bright.
This happens on average once every 75-76 years. However, the comet’s orbit is now quite far from the Earth’s. However, this was not always the case, because it has been coming to us for the last 10 thousand years, and during this time, the giant planets, including Jupiter, have repeatedly changed it
The orbit in which it was moving at the time scattered a huge amount of small solid particles. We perceive them as two meteor showers. The first is the Orionids, which are observed in October, and the second is the Eta Aquariids, which will peak soon.
In recent years, fluctuations in the intensity of the Eta Aquarid flow have been quite noticeable. In 2005, the ZHR reached 70, in 2013 – 100, and in 2017 – 75. Chinese historical chronicles contain information about much larger outbreaks of activity: in 74, 401, 443, 466, 530, 687, 839, 905, 927, and 934 BC. Scientists attribute them to some ancient events on the surface of Halley’s comet.
Eta Aquarid peak in 2025
To be precise, the peak of the Eta Aquarid in 2025 will occur on May 6 at 3:00 a.m. GMT. It will be 3:00 a.m. GMT (10:00 p.m. EST) in the morning in Ukraine at that moment. Information about the phase of the moon is also important, as its light interferes with the sighting of meteors. It will be the second day after the first quarter, and the disk will be 72% illuminated.
This means that the Moon will illuminate the sky quite strongly. Fortunately, just before dawn, it will have time to hide behind the horizon. That’s when the conditions for observing Eta Aquarid will be best for about 30 minutes.
So if you want to admire them, you should wake up a few hours beforehand and go somewhere with little light pollution. By the way, you can also do this a day earlier or a day later at the same time, although the duration of the period of perfect visibility on these days will be even shorter.
