Meteor Showers from Halley’s Comet’s tail: Eta Aquarid

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If you are watching the night sky this week you’re in for a rare treat! Expect to see shooting stars streaking from this unique meteor shower that originates from the tail of Halley’s Comet. This phenomenon is known as the Eta Aquarid.

All meteors are space rocks that enter the Earth’s atmosphere. As the space rock plummets towards our planet it begins to burn up. It is the white-hot light that makes a shooting star visible in the sky,  The streak is not actually the meteor, but rather the glowing hot air or train is reacting with the atmosphere.

The meteor shower is comprised of incandescent bits of debris being shed in the wake of Halley’s Comet. The pieces of space debris “light up” in the night sky when they interact with the atmosphere of Earth. 

Eta Aquarid

The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory claims that each time that the Halley Comet returns to the inner solar system, it sheds a layer of ice, dust, and rock in space. This debris will become the Eta Aquarids in May. And the Orionids in October.