Tuesday, May 05, 2026
Eta Aquariid Meteor Shower 6-7 May, 2026
The eta Aquariid meteor shower, which is produced by the debris from Halley’s Comet, will should peak on May 7 (strictly speaking May 6, 3UT).
This year the waning gibbous moon interferes. Dark sky sites could expect to see meteor every 6 minutes.
People in the suburbs
should see a meteor around once every 10 minutes,
and in the country about once every 6 minutes. The radiant of the
shower is about five hand-spans up from the eastern horizon, and three
hand-spans to the left of due east at 4 am (see spotter chart at 5:00 am
above). The radiant is above the disincentive pair of Saturn and Mars below near the eastern horizon , which makes a good reference point.
Weather prediction looks a bit dodgy for South Australia and the east coast.
You may have read that this year the eta Aquariids have a predicted ZHR of 50 meteors. The figure ZHR is zenithal hourly rate. This is the number of meteors that a single observer would see per hour if the shower's "point of origin", or radiant, were at the zenith and the sky was dark enough for 6.5-magnitude stars to be visible to the naked eye.
In practice, you will never see this many meteors as the radiant will be some distance below the zenith. Also, unless you are out deep in the countryside, the darkness will be less than ideal (and of course this years Moonlight).
The radiant of the shower is about five hand-spans up from the eastern horizon and three hand-spans to the left of due east at 4 am (see above for a spotter chart at 5 am). When looking, be sure to let your eyes adjust for at least 5 minutes so your eyes can be properly adapted to the dark.
Don't look directly at the radiant site, because the meteors will often start their "burn" some distance from it, but around a hand-span up or to the side. The best way to watch the Eta Aquariids is to let your eye rove around the entire patch of the sky above the north-east horizon, between the only two obvious bright stars in the northeast, Altair and Fomalhaut, and Saturn as the center of your field (again, see the spotter chart at 5:00 am above). The meteors are fast, with few fireballs and persistent trains.
Be patient, although you should see an average of a meteor every 6 minutes, a whole stretch of time can go by without a meteor, then a whole bunch turn up one after the other.
Make yourself comfortable, choose an observing site that has little to obstruct the eastern horizon, have a comfortable chair to sit in (a banana lounger is best), or blankets and pillows. Rug up against the cold. A hot Thermos of something to drink and plenty of mosquito protection will complete your observing preparations. As well as meteors, keep an eye out for satellites (see Heavens Above for predictions from your site). The Milky way will arch above you, with Saturn and Mars below the radiant.You can follow the progress of the shower at the IMO live Aquariid site.
Guides for taking meteor photos are here and here.
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.
Here is the near-real time satellite view of the clouds (day and night) http://satview.bom.gov.au/
Weather prediction looks a bit dodgy for South Australia and the east coast.
You may have read that this year the eta Aquariids have a predicted ZHR of 50 meteors. The figure ZHR is zenithal hourly rate. This is the number of meteors that a single observer would see per hour if the shower's "point of origin", or radiant, were at the zenith and the sky was dark enough for 6.5-magnitude stars to be visible to the naked eye.
In practice, you will never see this many meteors as the radiant will be some distance below the zenith. Also, unless you are out deep in the countryside, the darkness will be less than ideal (and of course this years Moonlight).
The radiant of the shower is about five hand-spans up from the eastern horizon and three hand-spans to the left of due east at 4 am (see above for a spotter chart at 5 am). When looking, be sure to let your eyes adjust for at least 5 minutes so your eyes can be properly adapted to the dark.
Don't look directly at the radiant site, because the meteors will often start their "burn" some distance from it, but around a hand-span up or to the side. The best way to watch the Eta Aquariids is to let your eye rove around the entire patch of the sky above the north-east horizon, between the only two obvious bright stars in the northeast, Altair and Fomalhaut, and Saturn as the center of your field (again, see the spotter chart at 5:00 am above). The meteors are fast, with few fireballs and persistent trains.
Be patient, although you should see an average of a meteor every 6 minutes, a whole stretch of time can go by without a meteor, then a whole bunch turn up one after the other.
Make yourself comfortable, choose an observing site that has little to obstruct the eastern horizon, have a comfortable chair to sit in (a banana lounger is best), or blankets and pillows. Rug up against the cold. A hot Thermos of something to drink and plenty of mosquito protection will complete your observing preparations. As well as meteors, keep an eye out for satellites (see Heavens Above for predictions from your site). The Milky way will arch above you, with Saturn and Mars below the radiant.You can follow the progress of the shower at the IMO live Aquariid site.
Guides for taking meteor photos are here and here.
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.
Here is the near-real time satellite view of the clouds (day and night) http://satview.bom.gov.au/
Labels: eta aquarid, Meteors, unaided eye
Wednesday, April 30, 2025
Eta Aquariid Meteor Shower 5-9 May, 2025
The eta Aquariid meteor shower, which is produced by the debris from Halley’s Comet, will peak
on May 6, 03UT, which means 13:00 AEST on the 7th during daylight hours. As the radiant does not rise until 2 am or so, the best rates are on the morning of the 8th (sadly mid-week)
The Moon is just past First Quarter, and the Moon sets before the radiant rises so there will be no Moon interference.
There has been predictions we might have a higher rate this year, so it is worthwhile to look out on the mornings of May 5,
May 6, May 7, and May 8 from 3:00 AM to 5:00 AM local time Australia-wide,
where people with dark skies should see a meteor around every three to four
minutes on the 7th and 8th (and possibly higher numbers on the 8th).
People in the suburbs
should see a meteor around once every 6 minutes,
and in the country about once every 3-4 minutes. The radiant of the
shower is about five hand-spans up from the eastern horizon, and three
hand-spans to the left of due east at 4 am (see spotter chart at 5:00 am
above). The radiant is close to Saturn, with Venus below, which makes a good reference point.
Weather prediction looks okay.
You may have read that this year the eta Aquariids have a predicted ZHR of 50 meteors. The figure ZHR is zenithal hourly rate. This is the number of meteors that a single observer would see per hour if the shower's "point of origin", or radiant, were at the zenith and the sky was dark enough for 6.5-magnitude stars to be visible to the naked eye.
In practice, you will never see this many meteors as the radiant will be some distance below the zenith. Also, unless you are out deep in the countryside, the darkness will be less than ideal. How many are you likely to see in reality?
The table below gives predictions below for various towns, but they are only predictions and while based on average steam density there may be some differences year to year, but good rates were seen in previous years, and dark sky sites may possibly see one meteor every 3-4 minutes or so. There were many bright ones reported with persistent trains in 2014. People in the suburbs maybe will see less, but at least one every 6 minutes should be possible.
Predicted meteor rates for selected towns (taken from NASA shower Flux estimator below). If your city is not on the list you can expect a meteor rate similar to the closest city to you in latitude.
Weather prediction looks okay.
You may have read that this year the eta Aquariids have a predicted ZHR of 50 meteors. The figure ZHR is zenithal hourly rate. This is the number of meteors that a single observer would see per hour if the shower's "point of origin", or radiant, were at the zenith and the sky was dark enough for 6.5-magnitude stars to be visible to the naked eye.
In practice, you will never see this many meteors as the radiant will be some distance below the zenith. Also, unless you are out deep in the countryside, the darkness will be less than ideal. How many are you likely to see in reality?
The table below gives predictions below for various towns, but they are only predictions and while based on average steam density there may be some differences year to year, but good rates were seen in previous years, and dark sky sites may possibly see one meteor every 3-4 minutes or so. There were many bright ones reported with persistent trains in 2014. People in the suburbs maybe will see less, but at least one every 6 minutes should be possible.
Predicted meteor rates for selected towns (taken from NASA shower Flux estimator below). If your city is not on the list you can expect a meteor rate similar to the closest city to you in latitude.
| Town | Morning May 6 | Morning May 7 | Morning May8 |
| Adelaide | 15 meteors/hr | 18 meteors/hr | 19 meteors/hr |
| Brisbane | 16 meteors/hr | 19 meteors/hr | 21 meteors/hr |
| Darwin | 17 meteors/hr | 20 meteors/hr | 22 meteors/hr |
| Perth | 16 meteors/hr | 19 meteors/hr | 20 meteors/hr |
| Melbourne | 15 meteors/hr | 17 meteors/hr | 18 meteors/hr |
| Hobart | 14 meteors/hr | 17 meteors/hr | 18 meteors/hr |
| Sydney | 15 meteors/hr | 18 meteors/hr | 20 meteors/hr |
The radiant of the shower is about five hand-spans up from the eastern horizon and three hand-spans to the left of due east at 4 am (see above for a spotter chart at 5 am). When looking, be sure to let your eyes adjust for at least 5 minutes so your eyes can be properly adapted to the dark.
Don't look directly at the radiant site, because the meteors will often start their "burn" some distance from it, but around a hand-span up or to the side. The best way to watch the Eta Aquariids is to let your eye rove around the entire patch of the sky above the north-east horizon, between the only two obvious bright stars in the northeast, Altair and Fomalhaut, and Saturn as the center of your field (again, see the spotter chart at 5:00 am above). The meteors are fast, with few fireballs and persistent trains.
Be patient, although you should see an average of a meteor every 3 to 4 minutes, a whole stretch of time can go by without a meteor, then a whole bunch turn up one after the other.
Make yourself comfortable, choose an observing site that has little to obstruct the eastern horizon, have a comfortable chair to sit in (a banana lounger is best), or blankets and pillows. Rug up against the cold. A hot Thermos of something to drink and plenty of mosquito protection will complete your observing preparations. As well as meteors, keep an eye out for satellites (see Heavens Above for predictions from your site). The Milky way will arch above you, with Saturn and Venus just below the radiant.
Use the NASA meteor shower flux estimator for an estimate of what the shower will be like from your location (you may need to enter your longitude and latitude, surprisingly, while Adelaide and Brisbane are hard-wired in, Sydney and Melbourne are not). See the image to the left for typical output. The peak is rather sharp.
Unfortunately, both Chrome and Firefox have changed their security
settings to prevent plugins from running, and the flux estimator only
runs under Internet Explorer, or the Internet Explorer tab under Edge, now.
You need to choose 31 Eta Aquariids and remember to set the date to 6-7 or 7-8 May 2025 and turn off daylight saving time. You can follow the progress of the shower at the IMO live Aquariid site.
Guides for taking meteor photos are here and here.
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.
Here is the near-real time satellite view of the clouds (day and night) http://satview.bom.gov.au/
You need to choose 31 Eta Aquariids and remember to set the date to 6-7 or 7-8 May 2025 and turn off daylight saving time. You can follow the progress of the shower at the IMO live Aquariid site.
Guides for taking meteor photos are here and here.
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.
Here is the near-real time satellite view of the clouds (day and night) http://satview.bom.gov.au/
Labels: eta aquarid, Meteors, unaided eye
Tuesday, April 30, 2024
Eta Aquariid Meteor Shower 5-9 May, 2024
The eta Aquariid meteor shower, which is produced by the debris from Halley’s Comet, will peak
on May 6 (strictly speaking May 5, 21UT).
The moon is almost new, so the rates will be slightly better away from the nominal peak on the 6th as the Moon wanes. There has been predictions we might have a higher rate this year, so it is worthwhile to look out on the weekend mornings of May 5,
May 6, May 7, and May 8 from 3:00 AM to 5:00 AM local time Australia-wide,
where people with dark skies should see a meteor around every three to four
minutes.
People in the suburbs should see a meteor around once every 6 minutes, and in the country about once every 3-4 minutes. The radiant of the shower is about five hand-spans up from the eastern horizon, and three hand-spans to the left of due east at 4 am (see spotter chart at 5:00 am above). The radiant is close to Saturn, which makes a good reference point.
Weather prediction looks okay.
You may have read that this year the eta Aquariids have a predicted ZHR of 40 meteors. The figure ZHR is zenithal hourly rate. This is the number of meteors that a single observer would see per hour if the shower's "point of origin", or radiant, were at the zenith and the sky was dark enough for 6.5-magnitude stars to be visible to the naked eye.
In practice, you will never see this many meteors as the radiant will be some distance below the zenith. Also, unless you are out deep in the countryside, the darkness will be less than ideal. How many are you likely to see in reality?
The table below gives predictions below for various towns, but they are only predictions and while based on average steam density there may be some differences year to year, but good rates were seen in previous years, and dark sky sites may possibly see one meteor every 3-4 minutes or so. There were many bright ones reported with persistent trains in 2014. People in the suburbs maybe will see less, but at least one every 6 minutes should be possible.
Predicted meteor rates for selected towns (taken from NASA shower Flux estimator below). If your city is not on the list you can expect a meteor rate similar to the closest city to you in latitude.
| Town | Morning May 6 | Morning May 7 | Morning May8 |
| Adelaide | 15 meteors/hr | 19 meteors/hr | 18 meteors/hr |
| Brisbane | 16 meteors/hr | 20 meteors/hr | 20 meteors/hr |
| Darwin | 16 meteors/hr | 21 meteors/hr | 21 meteors/hr |
| Perth | 16 meteors/hr | 19 meteors/hr | 19 meteors/hr |
| Melbourne | 15 meteors/hr | 18 meteors/hr | 18 meteors/hr |
| Hobart | 14 meteors/hr | 17 meteors/hr | 17 meteors/hr |
| Sydney | 15 meteors/hr | 19 meteors/hr | 19 meteors/hr |
The radiant of the shower is about five hand-spans up from the eastern horizon and three hand-spans to the left of due east at 4 am (see above for a spotter chart at 5 am). When looking, be sure to let your eyes adjust for at least 5 minutes so your eyes can be properly adapted to the dark.
Don't look directly at the radiant site, because the meteors will often start their "burn" some distance from it, but around a hand-span up or to the side. The best way to watch the Eta Aquariids is to let your eye rove around the entire patch of the sky above the north-east horizon, between the only two obvious bright stars in the northeast, Altair and Fomalhaut, and Saturn as the center of your field (again, see the spotter chart at 5:00 am above).
Be patient, although you should see an average of a meteor every 6 to 8 minutes, a whole stretch of time can go by without a meteor, then a whole bunch turn up one after the other.
Make yourself comfortable, choose an observing site that has little to obstruct the eastern horizon, have a comfortable chair to sit in (a banana lounger is best), or blankets and pillows. Rug up against the cold. A hot Thermos of something to drink and plenty of mosquito protection will complete your observing preparations. As well as meteors, keep an eye out for satellites (see Heavens Above for predictions from your site). The Milky way will arch above you, with Saturn just next to the radiant.
Use the NASA meteor shower flux estimator for
an estimate of what the shower will be like from your location (you
may need to enter your longitude and latitude, surprisingly, while
Adelaide and Brisbane are hard-wired in, Sydney and Melbourne are not).
See the image to the left for typical output. The peak is rather sharp.
Unfortunately, both Chrome and Firefox have changed their security
settings to prevent plugins from running, and the flux estimator only
runs under Internet Explorer, or the internet explorer tab under Edge, now.
You need to choose 31 Eta Aquariids and remember to set the date to 5-6 or 7-8 May 2024 and turn off daylight saving time. You can follow the progress of the shower at the IMO live Aquariid site.
Guides for taking meteor photos are here and here.
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.
Here is the near-real time satellite view of the clouds (day and night) http://satview.bom.gov.au/
You need to choose 31 Eta Aquariids and remember to set the date to 5-6 or 7-8 May 2024 and turn off daylight saving time. You can follow the progress of the shower at the IMO live Aquariid site.
Guides for taking meteor photos are here and here.
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.
Here is the near-real time satellite view of the clouds (day and night) http://satview.bom.gov.au/
Labels: eta aquarid, Meteors, unaided eye
Tuesday, May 02, 2023
Eta Aquariid Meteor Shower 4-8 May, 2023
The eta Aquariid meteor shower, which is produced by the debris from Halley’s Comet, will peak
on May 6.
Unfortunately, the Full Moon occurs at the same time, and will significantly reduce rates being seen. There has been predictions we might have a higher rate this year, so it is worthwhile to look out on the weekend mornings of May 5,
May 6 and May 7, from 3:00 AM to 5:00 AM local time Australia-wide,
where people with dark skies should see a meteor around every six to eight
minutes.
Again the Full Moon will cause significant interference this year. When choosing a viewing location, find one that blocks ot direct views of the Moon. There s also a penumbral lunar eclipse on the 6th, but the subtle darkening will not be enough to make more meteors appear.
People in the suburbs should see a meteor around once every 8 minutes, and in the country about once every 6 minutes. The radiant of the shower is about five hand-spans up from the eastern horizon, and three hand-spans to the left of due east at 4 am (see spotter chart at 4:00 am above). The radiant is close to Saturn, which makes a good reference point.
Weather prediction looks like cloud except for some sections of the est coast.
You may have read that this year the eta Aquariids have a predicted ZHR of 40 meteors. The figure ZHR is zenithal hourly rate. This is the number of meteors that a single observer would see per hour if the shower's "point of origin", or radiant, were at the zenith and the sky was dark enough for 6.5-magnitude stars to be visible to the naked eye.
In practice, you will never see this many meteors as the radiant will be some distance below the zenith. Also, unless you are out deep in the countryside, the darkness will be less than ideal. How many are you likely to see in reality?
The table below gives predictions below for various towns, but they are only predictions and while based on average steam density there may be some differences year to year, but good rates were seen in previous years, and dark sky sites may possibly see one meteor every 6-8 minutes or so. There were many bright ones reported with persistent trains in 2014. People in the suburbs maybe will see less, but at least one every 8 minutes should be possible.
Predicted meteor rates for selected towns (taken from NASA shower Flux estimator below). If your city is not on the list you can expect a meteor rate similar to the closest city to you in latitude.
| Town | Morning May 5 | Morning May 6 | Morning May 7 |
| Adelaide | 10 meteors/hr | 8 meteors/hr | 6 meteors/hr |
| Brisbane | 11 meteors/hr | 82 meteors/hr | 6 meteors/hr |
| Darwin | 12 meteors/hr | 9 meteors/hr | 6 meteors/hr |
| Perth | 11 meteors/hr | 8 meteors/hr | 6 meteors/hr |
| Melbourne | 10 meteors/hr | 8 meteors/hr | 6 meteors/hr |
| Hobart | 9 meteors/hr | 7 meteors/hr | 5 meteors/hr |
| Sydney | 11 meteors/hr | 8 meteors/hr | 6 meteors/hr |
The radiant of the shower is about five hand-spans up from the eastern horizon and three hand-spans to the left of due east at 4 am (see above for a spotter chart at 5 am). When looking, be sure to let your eyes adjust for at least 5 minutes so your eyes can be properly adapted to the dark.
Don't look directly at the radiant site, because the meteors will often start their "burn" some distance from it, but around a hand-span up or to the side. The best way to watch the Eta Aquariids is to let your eye rove around the entire patch of the sky above the north-east horizon, between the only two obvious bright stars in the northeast, Altair and Fomalhaut, and Saturn as the center of your field (again, see the spotter chart at 4:00 am above).
Be patient, although you should see an average of a meteor every 6 to 8 minutes, a whole stretch of time can go by without a meteor, then a whole bunch turn up one after the other.
Make yourself comfortable, choose an observing site that has little to obstruct the eastern horizon, have a comfortable chair to sit in (a banana lounger is best), or blankets and pillows. Rug up against the cold. A hot Thermos of something to drink and plenty of mosquito protection will complete your observing preparations. As well as meteors, keep an eye out for satellites (see Heavens Above for predictions from your site). The Milky way will arch above you, with Saturn just next to the radiant.
Unfortunately, both Chrome and Firefox have changed their security settings to prevent plugins from running, and the flux estimator only runs under Internet Explorer, or the internet explorer tab under Edge, now.
You need to choose 31 Eta Aquariids and remember to set the date to 5-6 or 7-8 May 2023 and turn off daylight saving time. You can follow the progress of the shower at the IMO live Aquariid site.
Guides for taking meteor photos are here and here.
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.
Here is the near-real time satellite view of the clouds (day and night) http://satview.bom.gov.au/
Labels: eta aquarid, Meteors, unaided eye
Monday, May 02, 2022
Eta Aquariid Meteor Shower 7-9 May, 2022
The eta Aquariid meteor shower, which is produced by the debris from Halley’s Comet, will peak
on May 6, 08h UT, which is sadly after sunrise on May 6 (late afternoon).
Despite this, we will have worthwhile rates on the weekend mornings of May 7, May 8 and May 9, from 3:00 AM to 5:00 AM local time Australia-wide, where people with dark skies should see a meteor around every three minutes.
While the peak is on the morning of the 6th during daylight, the peak is really broad and viewing from the 7-9 will give you
decent rates (see table below). Based on the NASA meteor flux program
(see below) and my own excel spreadsheet using Jennisken's eta
Aquariid stream parameters the
best rates will be seen from Australia on the mornings of the 8th and 9th (see table below, but the 7th is very worthwhile too, even the 10th if the other nights are clouded out, as you can see the
rate difference between the nights is fairly marginal).
The first Quarter Moon sets before the radiant rises, so we will have a good view this year.
People in the suburbs should see a meteor around once every 4-5 minutes, and in the country about once every 3 minutes. The radiant of the shower is about five hand-spans up from the eastern horizon, and three hand-spans to the left of due east at 4 am (see spotter chart at 5:00 am above). The radiant is close to Mars, which makes a good reference point.
Weather prediction looks good with clear mornings for most of Australia (except the bit where I live)
You may have read that this year the eta Aquariids have a predicted ZHR of 50 meteors. The figure ZHR is zenithal hourly rate. This is the number of meteors that a single observer would see per hour if the shower's "point of origin", or radiant, were at the zenith and the sky was dark enough for 6.5-magnitude stars to be visible to the naked eye.
In practice, you will never see this many meteors as the radiant will be some distance below the zenith. Also, unless you are out deep in the countryside, the darkness will be less than ideal. How many are you likely to see in reality?
The table below gives predictions below for various towns, but they are only predictions and while based on average steam density there may be some differences year to year, but good rates were seen in previous years, and dark sky sites may possibly see one meteor every 3-4 minutes or so. There were many bright ones reported with persistent trains in 2014. People in the suburbs maybe will see less, but at least one every 6 minutes should be possible.
Predicted meteor rates for selected towns (taken from NASA shower Flux estimator below). If your city is not on the list you can expect a meteor rate similar to the closest city to you in latitude.
| Town | Morning May 7 | Morning May 8 | Morning May 9 |
| Adelaide | 17 meteors/hr | 20 meteors/hr | 17 meteors/hr |
| Brisbane | 18 meteors/hr | 22 meteors/hr | 18 meteors/hr |
| Darwin | 19 meteors/hr | 22 meteors/hr | 19 meteors/hr |
| Perth | 18 meteors/hr | 20 meteors/hr | 17 meteors/hr |
| Melbourne | 17 meteors/hr | 20 meteors/hr | 16 meteors/hr |
| Hobart | 16 meteors/hr | 18 meteors/hr | 15 meteors/hr |
| Sydney | 17 meteors/hr | 20 meteors/hr | 17 meteors/hr |
The radiant of the shower is about five hand-spans up from the eastern horizon and three hand-spans to the left of due east at 4 am (see above for a spotter chart at 5 am). When looking, be sure to let your eyes adjust for at least 5 minutes so your eyes can be properly adapted to the dark.
Don't look directly at the radiant site, because the meteors will often start their "burn" some distance from it, but around a hand-span up or to the side. The best way to watch the Eta Aquariids is to let your eye rove around the entire patch of the sky above the north-east horizon, between the only two obvious bright stars in the northeast, Altair and Fomalhaut, and Mars as the center of your field (again, see the spotter chart at 5:00 am above).
Be patient, although you should see an average of a meteor every 3 to 4 minutes, a whole stretch of time can go by without a meteor, then a whole bunch turn up one after the other.
Make yourself comfortable, choose an observing site that has little to obstruct the eastern horizon, have a comfortable chair to sit in (a banana lounger is best), or blankets and pillows. Rug up against the cold. A hot Thermos of something to drink and plenty of mosquito protection will complete your observing preparations. As well as meteors, keep an eye out for satellites (see Heavens Above for predictions from your site). The Milky way will arch above you, with Mars just next to the radiant and Jupiter and Venus below.
Unfortunately, both Chrome and Firefox have changed their security settings to prevent plugins from running, and the flux estimator only runs under Internet Explorer now.
You need to choose 31 Eta Aquariids and remember to set the date to 7-8 or 8-9 May 2022 and turn off daylight saving time. You can follow the progress of the shower at the IMO live Aquariid site.
Guides for taking meteor photos are here and here.
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.
Here is the near-real time satellite view of the clouds (day and night) http://satview.bom.gov.au/
Labels: eta aquarid, Meteors, unaided eye
Thursday, May 06, 2021
Don't forget the Eta Aquariids, mornings 7, 8 and 9 May, 2021
Just a reminder that the
eta Aquariid meteor shower, which is produced by the debris from
Halley’s Comet, is best seen on the mornings of the 7th, 8th
and 9th from 4:00 AM to 5:00 AM (that's tomorrow morning and this wekend), when Aquarius
is fairly high above the
horizon and the crescent Moon is low.
I you have dark skies you may see between a meteor every
3-4 minutes at this time. The radiant of the shower is about five
hand-spans up from the eastern horizon, and three hand-spans to the left
of due east at 4:30 am (see diagram above).
More details and rate predictions for different cities at my eta Aquariid page.
Labels: eta aquarid, Meteors, unaided eye
Sunday, May 02, 2021
Eta Aquariid Meteor Shower 7-9 May, 2021
The eta Aquariid meteor shower, which is produced by the debris from Halley’s Comet, will peak on May 6, 03hUT, which is sadly after sunrise on May 6.
Despite this, and interference from the light of the waning Moon which will be very close to the radiant, we will have worthwhile rates on the weekend mornings of May 8 and May 9, from 3:00 AM to 5:00 AM local time Australia-wide, where people with dark skies should see a meteor around every three to four minutes.
While the peak is on the morning of the 6th during daylight, the peak is really broad and viewing from the 7-9 will give you
decent rates (see table below). Based on the NASA meteor flux program
(see below) and my own excel spreadsheet using Jennisken's eta
Aquariid stream parameters the
best rates will be seen from Australia on the mornings of the 8th and 9th (see table below, but the 7th is very worthwhile too, even the 10th if the other nights are clouded out, as you can see the
rate difference between the nights is fairly marginal).
The waning Moon is very close to the radiant on the 6th and the 7th, even on the 8th and 9th the crescent Moon’s light will have an effect so try and find a position to watch the meteors where the Moon is blocked from view,
People in the suburbs should see a meteor around once every 6 minutes, and in the country about once every 3 minutes. The radiant of the shower is about five hand-spans up from the eastern horizon, and three hand-spans to the left of due east at 4 am (see spotter chart at 4:30 am above).
Weather prediction looks good with clear mornings for most of Australia (except the bit where I live)
You may have read that this year the eta Aquariids have a predicted ZHR of 50 meteors. The figure ZHR is zenithal hourly rate. This is the number of meteors that a single observer would see per hour if the shower's "point of origin", or radiant, were at the zenith and the sky was dark enough for 6.5-magnitude stars to be visible to the naked eye.
In practice, you will never see this many meteors as the radiant will be some distance below the zenith. Also, unless you are out deep in the countryside, the darkness will be less than ideal. How many are you likely to see in reality?
The table below gives predictions below for various towns, but they are only predictions and while based on average steam density there may be some differences year to year, but good rates were seen in previous years, and dark sky sites may possibly see one meteor every 4-5 minutes or so. There were many bright ones reported with persistent trains in 2014. People in the suburbs maybe will see less, but at least one every 6 minutes should be possible.
Predicted meteor rates for selected towns (taken from NASA shower Flux estimator below). If your city is not on the list you can expect a meteor rate similar to the closest city to you in latitude.
| Town | Morning May 7 | Morning May 8 | Morning May 9 |
| Adelaide | 14 meteors/hr | 16 meteors/hr | 15 meteors/hr |
| Brisbane | 15 meteors/hr | 17 meteors/hr | 16 meteors/hr |
| Darwin | 16 meteors/hr | 18 meteors/hr | 17bmeteors/hr |
| Perth | 15 meteors/hr | 17 meteors/hr | 15 meteors/hr |
| Melbourne | 13 meteors/hr | 16 meteors/hr | 15 meteors/hr |
| Hobart | 13 meteors/hr | 16 meteors/hr | 15 meteors/hr |
| Sydney | 14 meteors/hr | 17 meteors/hr | 15 meteors/hr |
The radiant of the shower is about five hand-spans up from the eastern horizon and three hand-spans to the left of due east at 4 am (see above for a spotter chart at 5 am). When looking, be sure to let your eyes adjust for at least 5 minutes so your eyes can be properly adapted to the dark.
Don't look directly at the radiant site, because the meteors will often start their "burn" some distance from it, but around a hand-span up or to the side. The best way to watch the Eta Aquariids is to let your eye rove around the entire patch of the sky above the north-east horizon, between the only two obvious bright stars in the northeast, Altair and Fomalhaut, and Jupiter and Saturn as the centre of your field (again, see the spotter chart at 4:30 am above).
Be patient, although you should see an average of a meteor every 3 to 6 minutes, a whole stretch of time can go by without a meteor, then a whole bunch turn up one after the other.
Make yourself comfortable, choose an observing site that has little to obstruct the eastern horizon, have a comfortable chair to sit in (a banana lounger is best), or blankets and pillows. Rug up against the cold. A hot Thermos of something to drink and plenty of mosquito protection will complete your observing preparations. As well as meteors, keep an eye out for satellites (see Heavens Above for predictions from your site). The Milky way will arch above you, with Jupiter and Saturn just above te radiant.
Unfortunately, both Chrome and Firefox have changed their security settings to prevent plugins from running, and the flux estimator only runs under Internet Explorer now.
You need to choose 31 Eta Aquariids and remember to set the date to 7-8 or 8-9 May 2021 and turn off daylight saving time. You can follow the progress of the shower at the IMO live Aquariid site.
Guides for taking meteor photos are here and here.
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.
Here is the near-real time satellite view of the clouds (day and night) http://satview.bom.gov.au/
Labels: eta aquarid, Meteors, unaided eye
Sunday, May 03, 2020
Eta Aqaurid Meteor Shower 6-8 May, 2020
Just a reminder that the eta Aquarid meteor shower peaks on the late evening/early morning of 5-7 May in Australia, although better rates will be seen on the mornings of the 6th, 7th, and 8th .
The eta Aquarid meteor shower, which is produced by the debris from Halley’s Comet, will peak on May 5, 21h UT , which is sadly after sunrise on May 6 in the eastern states and deep in the twilight glow for the central states. Despite this, and interference from the light of the waxing Moon, we will have worthwhile rates on the mornings of May 6 and May 7, from 3:00 AM to 5:00 AM local time Australia-wide, where people with dark skies should see a meteor around every four to five minutes.
However, the peak is really broad and viewing from the 5-9 will give you decent rates (see table below). Based on the NASA meteor flux program (see below) and my own excel spreadsheet using the Jennisken's eta Aquarid stream parameters the best rates will be seen from Australia on the mornings of the 6th and 7th (see table below, but the 8th is very worth while too, but as you can see the rate difference between the nights is marginal).
This year conditions are reasonable for seeing the eta Aquarids, with little interference from the waxing Moon. The waxing Moon sets before astronomical twilight on the 6th and just after nautical twilight on the 7th after the meteor shower rises. So try and find a position to watch the meteors where the Moon is blocked from view.
People in the suburbs should see a meteor around once every 6 minutes, and in the country about once every 3 minutes. The radiant of the shower is about five hand-spans up from the eastern horizon, and three hand-spans to the left of due east at 4 am (see spotter chart at 4 am above).
Weather prediction looks good with clear mornings for most of Australia (except the bit where I live)
You may have read that this year the eta Aquariids have a predicted ZHR of 50 meteors. The figure ZHR is zenithal hourly rate. This is the number of meteors that a single observer would see per hour if the shower's "point of origin", or radiant, were at the zenith and the sky was dark enough for 6.5-magnitude stars to be visible to the naked eye.
In practise, you will never see this many meteors as the radiant will be some distance below the zenith. Also, unless you are out deep in the countryside, the darkness will be less than ideal. How many are you likely to see in reality? I discuss this further down, let's talk about when to see them first.
Although as I said above the actual peak is on 6-7th, for Australia the best time to see the eta-Aquarids is in the early morning of the 5th, 6th and 7th, with the best rates between around 4-5 am (see table below).
How many will be seen on the 6th - 7th is not entirely clear (see predictions below for various towns, but they are only predictions), but good rates were seen in 2016, and dark sky sites may possibly see one meteor every 4-5 minutes or so. There were many bright ones reported with persistent trains in 2014. People in the suburbs may be will see less, but at least one every 6 minutes should be possible.
Predicted meteor rates for selected towns (taken from NASA shower Flux estimator below)
| Town | Morning May 5 | Morning May 6 | Morning May 7 |
| Adelaide | 13 meteors/hr | 16 meteors/hr | 16 meteors/hr |
| Brisbane | 14 meteors/hr | 17 meteors/hr | 17 meteors/hr |
| Darwin | 15 meteors/hr | 17 meteors/hr | 17bmeteors/hr |
| Perth | 14 meteors/hr | 16 meteors/hr | 16 meteors/hr |
| Melbourne | 13 meteors/hr | 15 meteors/hr | 16 meteors/hr |
| Hobart | 12 meteors/hr | 14 meteors/hr | 15 meteors/hr |
| Sydney | 13 meteors/hr | 14 meteors/hr | 11 meteors/hr |
The radiant of the shower is about five hand-spans up from the eastern horizon and three hand-spans to the left of due east at 4 am (see above for a spotter chart at 5 am). When looking, be sure to let your eyes adjust for at least 5 minutes so your eyes can be properly adapted to the dark.
Don't look directly at the radiant site, because the meteors will often start their "burn" some distance from it, but around a hand-span up or to the side. The best way to watch the Eta Aquariids is to let your eye rove around the entire patch of the sky above the north-east horizon, between the only two obvious bright stars in the north-east, Altair and Fomalhaut and bright Mars.
Be patient, although you should see an average of a meteor every 3 to 6 minutes, a whole stretch of time can go by without a meteor, then a whole bunch turn up one after the other.
Make yourself comfortable, choose an observing site that has little to obstruct the eastern horizon, have a comfortable chair to sit in (a banana lounger is best), or blankets and pillows. Rug up against the cold. A hot Thermos of something to drink and plenty of mosquito protection will complete your observing preparations. As well as meteors, keep an eye out for satellites (see Heavens Above for predictions from your site). The Milky way will arch above you, with Jupiter and Saturn to the north and Mars and comet C/2020 F8 Swan will grace the morning skies as twilight begins.
Unfortunately, both Chrome and Firefox have changed their security settings to prevent plugins from running, and the flux estimator only runs under Internet Explorer now.
You need to choose 31 Eta Aquariids and remember to set the date to 7-8 or 8-9 May 2019 and turn off daylight saving time. You can follow the progress of the shower at the IMO live Aquariid site.
Guides for taking meteor photos are here and here.
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.
Here is the near-real time satellite view of the clouds (day and night) http://satview.bom.gov.au/
Labels: eta aquarid, Meteors, unaided eye
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