Shooting Stars of May

Well, the draught condition in southern New England was eased somewhat on the weekend of April 21-22. Two to three inches of precipitation helped to lessen the fire danger throughout the region. Unfortunately the rain coincided with the peak of the April Lyrid meteor shower! We just can’t seem to catch a break.

Elsewhere, with clear skies and a New Moon, folks were treated to a fine display of the April Lyrids. There were even a few bright meteors called fireballs.

Two weeks later, on the night of May 5-6, another meteor shower will grace our skies—the Eta Aquarids. The particles we see hitting our upper atmosphere head-on at 41 miles per second were shed by Halley’s Comet long ago and left to orbit about the Sun. Unfortunately this display is an old and declining one and is best seen from the southern hemisphere.

To make matters worse, this year the Full Moon is also on May 5 and will be in the sky all night. Most of the meteors will be blotted out by the bright moonlight. Besides, dawn arrives early in May, so you might catch a glimpse of a couple brighter members of this display around 4:00 am.

Unfortunately you will not see anywhere near the peak rate of twenty swift and yellow Eta Aquarids per hour. Also, Aquarius, the constellation from where the meteors appear to emanate, is not very prominent and will be a little difficult to recognize with a bright sky to contend with. However, Aquarius will be about 12 degrees above the east-southeast horizon at the 4:00 am hour. With the Moon almost on the opposite side of the sky at that time, you might actually see the shower’s radiant point in the Water Urn asterism (looks like a Y-shaped group of stars).

You may even see a few bright “earthgrazers,” which are shooting stars that blaze long and slow along the horizon. And because the Eta Aquarids are very fast meteors, forty percent of them leave long persisting dust trains when they disintegrate in the Earth’s upper atmosphere.

Despite the interfering moonlight on the morning of May 6, consider scanning the eastern sky before dawn to catch a glimpse of a shooting star or two.

Keep your eyes to the skies.