Earth will collide with a trail of dust in the wake of Halley’s Comet this week, causing a meteor shower that will be visible from Australia.

What is the Eta Aquarids?

The Eta Aquarids (also called the Eta Aquariid) is an annual meteor shower that occurs when Earth passes through the path of Halley’s Comet. The comet’s trail contains small particles that were ejected into space when it passed close to the Sun, which happens roughly once every 76 years.

When Earth passes through Halley’s trail, the particles from the comet interact with atoms in Earth’s atmosphere to cause bright streaks of light. The comet particles are only tiny, around the size of a grain of sand to a grain of rice. But because they are travelling so fast – about 65 km per second – the streak of light they create in Earth’s atmosphere can be kilometres long.

Meteor showers are typically named after the constellation that sits close to the point in the sky where they appear to originate. This point is called the radiant. The radiant of the meteor shower caused by Halley’s comet appears to sit in the direction of the constellation Aquarius, and the meteor shower is named after a star in this constellation called Eta Aquarii.

How can you see the Eta Aquarids?

The Eta Aquarids meteor shower can be seen with a naked eye and is safe to view without any eye protection.

The Eta Aquarids meteor shower can be visible from about late-April to late-May each year, with the most favourable viewing angle from the Southern Hemisphere. The peak of this year’s event will occur on the night of Wednesday, May 6 and early in the morning of Thursday, May 7.

Under favourable viewing conditions, the Eta Aquarids can produce around 30 to 50 meteors per hour in the Southern Hemisphere sky. Unfortunately, a bight waning gibbous moon will make it hard to see some of the fainter meteors this year. However, the brighter streaks should still be visible.

For the best chance to see the Eta Aquarids meteor shower from Australia this week, look towards the east or northeast during the hours before dawn. NASA also advises finding an area away from light pollution, such as city lights or streetlights, and giving your eyes at least 30 minutes to adjust to the darkness.