Prepare for a spectacular meteor shower

Many times a year, hundreds of shooting stars light up clear night skies. But they don’t really have anything to do with stars. These small space particles are meteoroids and are literally celestial debris.

Some meteor showers occur at the same time every year. Some of the more famous annual meteor showers have been observed by humans for hundreds of thousands of years.

The next major meteor shower of the year: Eta Aquarids

The Eta Aquarids will start on April 20 and last through May 21, but your best chance to see the meteors will be between 5 and 7 May in the early hours of the morning as this shower will be best seen from the Southern Hemisphere.

People in the Southern Hemisphere will be able to see about 30 meteors per hour, while people in the Northern Hemisphere will see about 10 per hour.

If you want to catch a glimpse, NASA says it’s best to get yourself far outside the city away from any light pollution.

Meteoroids in the Eta Aquarids are actually remnants from Halleys Comet. It is called Eta Aquarids because you can see it in the same area of the sky as the constellation of Aquarius.

It takes the comet about 75 years to travel around the sun, but Earth passes through the tail of the comet around April and October every year. Pieces of debris from the comet’s tail burn up as they hit the Earth’s atmosphere. The result is a spectacular light show of meteors.

Lyrid outshone by April full moon

The annual Lyrid meteor shower is active each year from about April 16 to 25. This year, the peak of this shower – which tends to come in a burst and usually lasts for less than a day – is expected on the morning of April 22. The timing couldn’t be worse as the peak of the Lyrid shower comes at virtually the same hour as the April full moon.