Pretoria residents are in for a celestial treat as the Eta Aquariid meteor shower, one of the year’s most dazzling displays, lights up the early morning skies on May 5 and 6 — with up to 50 meteors per hour expected at its peak.

According to NASA these meteors originate from Halley’s Comet, traveling at 66 km/s, creating fast, bright streaks across the sky. They peak during early May each year. 

In South Africa, the best time to view the Eta Aquariid meteor shower is between 2am and 4am, when the radiant in Aquarius is highest. For the best experience, head to a dark spot away from city lights, give your eyes 30 minutes to adjust and look slightly away from the radiant to see meteors streaking across the sky.

Moonlight interference will be minimal, making this a great opportunity for photographers. A wide-angle lens and long exposure settings will help capture the meteors. If skies are clear, this could be a spectacular show.

With minimal moonlight expected, conditions are ideal for photographers—use a wide-angle lens and long exposure to capture the meteors. Clear skies could make this a truly spectacular celestial display.

Here is more information about the meteors:

NASA explained that meteors come from leftover comet particles and bits from broken asteroids. When comets come around the Sun, they leave a dusty trail behind them. Every year Earth passes through these debris trails, which allows the bits to collide with our atmosphere where they disintegrate to create fiery and colorful streaks in the sky.

“The pieces of space debris that interact with our atmosphere to create the Eta Aquarids originate from comet 1P/Halley. Each time that Halley returns to the inner solar system its nucleus sheds a layer of ice and rock into space. The dust grains eventually become the Eta Aquarids in May and the Orionids in October if they collide with Earth’s atmosphere. Comet Halley takes about 76 years to orbit the Sun once.”

It added that the last time comet Halley was seen by casual observers was in 1986. Comet Halley will not enter the inner solar system again until 2061.

“Comet Halley was discovered in 1705 by Edmund Halley. He predicted the orbit of the comet through past observations of comets, suggesting that these sightings were in fact all the same comet. Halley is perhaps the most famous comet. It has been sighted for millennia. This comet is even featured in the Bayeux tapestry, which chronicles the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

“Comet Halley’s dimensions are 10 x 5 x 5 miles (16 x 8 x 8 kilometers). It is one of the darkest, or least reflective, objects in the solar system, with an albedo of 0.03.”

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