A celestial body streaks across a nighttime sky over Wenatchee, Wash.
(FRANK CONE/CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE)
Story by Angela Briggs, special to WCLU News
If the meteors that hit the Earth are meteorites, are the ones that miss meteor-wrongs?
Well, you may be able to find out early Friday morning. The Eta Aquariids meteor shower will hit its peak around 4 a.m. tomorrow and continue through daybreak.
Named after the Aquarius constellation, these meteors are debris left by the famous Halley’s Comet when it last passed Earth in the late 1980s.
NASA says the Eta Aquariids meteors are known for speed, with some reaching 148,000 miles per hour. The meteors will produce glowing “trains” that remain for several seconds after they streak through the sky. These meteors are also referred to as “Earthgrazers” because they skim the atmosphere near the horizon and move horizontally.
If conditions are clear, you should see between 15 and 40 meteors per hour during Friday morning’s peak. The shower will remain active until May 27.
