Meteor shower returns with remnants of Halley’s Comet

Washington, May 6 (Prensa Latina) A shower of stars with the Halley Comet´s remnants can be viewed, circling the solar system in the form of ice and dust as the Eta Aquarids of May from today, reaching 50 meteors per hour.

May 6, 2021
08:49

Eta Aquarids are known for their speed, according to NASA. They travel at about 148,000 mph into Earth’s atmosphere, experts say, and they leave glowing ‘trains’ — incandescent bits of debris in the wake of the meteor — which last anywhere from several seconds to minutes. Experts say 30 Eta Aquarid meteors can be seen per hour during peak visibility.

The part of the sky Eta Aquarids appear to come from is the constellation Aquarius, the water bearer, according to NASA.

Each time Halley — which takes about 76 years to orbit the sun once — returns to the inner solar system, its nucleus sheds a layer of ice and rock into space, according to NASA. The dust eventually becomes the Eta Aquarids of May and the Orionids of October if they collide with Earth’s atmosphere.

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