How to Watch the Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower This Week

You're either going to want to go to bed very early or very, very late
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted May 3, 2016 2:03 PM CDT
How to Watch the Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower This Week
Meteors streak above the Wyoming countryside during Perseids meteor shower in 2013.   (AP Photo/The Wyoming Tribune Eagle, Blaine McCartney)

The Eta Aquarids meteor shower happens when Earth passes through the debris left behind by Halley's Comet, and it's peaking this week, the New York Times reports. The Weather Network reports that most everyone will have a good view of the shower Thursday and Friday. About 10 to 20 meteors per hour will be visible between 3am and dawn local time, just to the left of the constellation Aquarius, those mornings. Those wanting the best view may want to avoid clouds and light pollution. Oh, and don't blink. “If you blink, you’re not going to see them. They move that fast,” a NASA astronomer tells the Times. The meteors, which are typically about the size of a grain of sand, are traveling approximately 148,000mph when they hit the atmosphere. (More meteor shower stories.)

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