The Canary Islands are the perfect place to see the Eta Aquarids meteor shower.

The Canary Islands will be one of the best places to view the Eta Aquarids meteor shower, as the new moon on May 8 will allow the meteor shower to continue with night darkness at its zenith, between May 5 and 6.

The Eta Aquarids meteor shower is visible every year from April 19 to May 28. Observation of it is more favorable from places located in the tropics, for example Canary Islandsand in the southern hemisphere, although they can also be observed in the northern hemisphere.

The Eta Aquarids are associated with Halley’s Comet, as is the Orionid meteor shower that occurs in October. Eta aquarid meteors have activity rates between 40 and 85 meteors per hour and quite high speed, about 66 kilometers per second, reports National Astronomical Observatory (OAN).

For mid-latitude observers, the Eta Aquarid radiant is above the horizon from four hours after midnight until dawn.

Comet Halley’s trail

The Eta Aquarid meteors are fragments of Comet 1/P Halley. Halley’s Comet orbits the Sun every 76 years. It was last seen from Earth in 1986. As every year around this time, the Earth passes through a ring populated by fragments broken off by Halley’s Comet.

When one of these fragments (or meteoroids) comes into contact with the Earth’s atmosphere, it burns up due to friction with the air, thereby creating the luminous glow we know as a meteor or shooting star. Halley’s Comet is also the source of another meteor shower. Orionids, which have maximum aroundl October 21.

The corresponding meteor shower appears to have a single center of origin—the point from which all shooting stars emerge. This point is called the “radiant” and its location is used to name the meteor shower. The eta Aquarid radiant is located in this star in the constellation Aquarius.