Meteor shower set to peak in early May. Here's what to know.
What's known as the Eta Aquariid meteor shower is just about to peak.
While the meteor shower is known for the display it puts on in the southern hemisphere, it's still capable of dazzling above the equator with a show of about 10 to 30 meteors per hour.
The Eta Aquariids appear in May and October of each year, according to Earthsky.org.
What's more this particular meteor shower has a famous "parent."
When can you see the shower, and when does it peak? Here's what to know.
The Eta Aquariid meteor shower will be active from April 19 to May 28 but people can see the peak of the shower on the mornings of May 5 and 6.
It's best to get up super early to see the meteor shower, especially during the peak. The Earthsky website states that people should be looking at the sky in the pre-dawn hours, around 3 a.m. before sunrise.
While the peak of the shower is the best time to see the event, stargazers will be able to catch a glimpse of some meteors even when the shower isn't peaking.
In a past interview with USA Today Network, Tim Brothers, Massachusetts Institute of Technology technical instructor and observatory manager, told Wicked Local that seeing meteor showers is possible with the naked eye, but with any case of stargazing, it's much better if you're using a good telescope or a pair of binoculars.
Meteors are essentially pieces of space rock, which are chunks of big comets, according to Space.com.
Meteor showers are "basically debris from the tails of comets," Richard Binzel, an MIT planetary sciences professor, told Wicked Local in a past interview.
The parent comet for the Eta Aquariid meteor shower is the well known, Halley's Comet, which was last viewable from Earth in 1986.
Halley's Comet will be back in view from Earth in 2061.
This article originally appeared on wickedlocal.com: An Eta Aquariid meteor shower is coming. Here's when it peaks
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