Eta Aquarids 2020 : All you need to know
Eta Aquarids 2020 : All you need to know
[ A blog on the universe and the cosmos above and the nature of it determined by great scientists ]
Eta Aquarids are specific meteor showers which are last for about a week or so. These showers are specifically observed from the 19th of April to 28th of May and will be on its peak toady [ 5th and 6th May 2020 ].
- What are Meteoroids and Meteor showers
- Eta Aquarid Meteor Showers 2020
- When and where to look out for them
- Aquarius
- Halley's Comet
What are meteoroids and Meteor showers:
Meteor showers are when meteors or more specifically meteor debris enters the earth's atmosphere. Meteoroids
are small chunks of rocks revolving in the space above while Asteroids
are the larger ones. There is a large area which is occupied by these
asteroids. This area is situated between Mars and Jupiter and another of
such kind extends forward from the orbits of the Gas giant Neptune.
Many of the large asteroids that pass by earth actually come from these
areas of the space.
Meteoroids on the other hand are quite small in size as compared with Asteroids. Though both of them revolve around the sun, Meteoroids are smaller and cause less destruction than Asteroids. Meteoroids
originate from these asteroid belts which revolve around the sun due to
the fixed gravitational pull of the sun and other planets.
When these Meteoroids enter the earth's atmosphere and vaporize due to massive gravitational pull offered by our planet, at this stage these chunks of rocks are called Meteors in scientific language. Meteors are also often referred to as Shooting stars. These interplanetary pieces of rocks are only a few millimeters in size and hence when enter our earth's atmosphere, they vaporize quite fast due to the exceedingly high gravitational pull. Because of them being so small in size, there are hardly any instances when a meteoroid has hit the earth.
However when these meteors pass through the earth's atmosphere they leave back a string of light in the sky. This faint light is called the tail of that meteor. The tail is a result of the vaporization process through which the star goes through while making it through the Earth's atmosphere. When there are several of such meteors seen in the sky, this celestial event is called a Meteor shower.
During such meteor showers, Meteors are observed to be originating from a specific point in the sky and then disappearing moments later. Meteor showers may last for few hours or even days. There are specific timings at which these Meteor showers are at peak. This is that point of time the most meteors strike across the sky. There are several Meteor Showers that take place around the year, for instance Lyrids meteor showers. I have written a whole article on Lyrids Meteor Showers if interested then click here to read it.
Eta Aquarid Meteor Showers 2020 :
Eta Aquarid Meteor showers are typical meteor showers which occur in April an May. These showers start from the mid of April and last until the May end. this year the world will witness these Meter Showers from the 19th of April till the 28th of May while being at the peak on the 5th of May that is today! A Meteor Shower being at its peak is when the most meteors can be seen during the time period of that meteor.
Eta Aquarid Meteor showers is one of the meteor showers who has its origin in Halley's Comet. The origin or a radiant of a Meteor Shower is the point in the sky from where the meteors appear to be originating from. In this case the radiant of these Meteor Showers is Aquarius. More detailed information on Aquarius is mentioned below.
Now what are comets? Comets are celestial objects which are made up from space debris, dust and snow/ice particles in the space. In earlier times they were also called as dirty snowballs
The Eta Aquarid Meteor showers are associated with the Halley's comet. This means that the debris which enters the Earth's atmosphere is the one coming from the famous Halley's comet. Now why this is so special ? The answer is because the revolutionary path around the sun is different for planets and comets. Their path not just differ in the length of their orbits but also their angles.
The revolutionary orbit of comet is highly elliptical as compared to the orbits of planets. Due to this they take way long to complete one revolution around the sun and it is hardly any times that these comets come in close interference with any other Planets. Though the Halley's comet is visible once in 76 years and we won't be able to see it until 2061, we can see the Meteor Shower originated with it.
When and where to look out for them :
These Eta Aquarid Meteor Showers will be visible through out the world though its intensity being more in the Southern hemisphere. If you are situated in Southern hemisphere then you can expect to see 20 to 40 meteors per hour. On the other hand if you are in the Northern hemisphere then you can probably see 10 to 30 meteors per hour.
The Radiant constellation an be seen after 2 : 00 am in most of the places , and that's the right time for viewing these Meteor Showers. Although the weather conditions at your place will play a major role in the visibility. The table below covers some of the random places, the weather conditions there and if viewing these meteors will be easy or tough from that place.
|
S.R |
Places |
Weather condition |
Can you see it |
|
1. |
Mumbai |
Sunny |
Yes |
|
2. |
Mahabaleshwar |
Partially sunny |
Yes |
|
3. |
London |
Sunny |
Yes |
|
4. |
Reading |
Partially cloudy |
Not sure |
|
5. |
New Jersey |
Cloudy |
Possibly not |
|
6. |
New York |
Cloudy |
Possibly not |
|
7. |
Boston |
Partially Cloudy |
Not sure |
|
8. |
Ooty |
Partially cloudy |
Not sure |
|
9. |
Manchester |
Sunny |
Yes |
|
10. |
Boston |
Partially cloudy |
Not sure |
Note :- [ All the weather data above is fetched from google. All the assumptions are clear
reflection of the weather conditions and are not 100% precise. All the assumptions
are made by common sense :) ]
Aquarius :
What I mean by Aquarius is not the zodiac sign. There is a constellation called as Aquarius which is the radiant of these Eta Aquarid Meteor Showers. Aquarius is one of the oldest found constellations. It was first discovered by Ptolemy in the second century. The star Beta Aquarii is the brightest star in this constellation. Through recent research, scientists have found that this constellation has peculiar stars at its boundary which support planetary systems. Scientists have also shown that 2 of its brightest stars have undergone evolution. I have written a separate article on evolution of stars. If interested then click here to read it.
Friends do watch this video made by one of the youtuber who is a real fan of astronomy. If possible do watch all of his videos for great insights in astronomy based topics. Enjoy the video !
Halley's Comet :
Haley's comet is a very peculiar comet which passes by earth in every 75 years or sometimes 76 years. This comet is considered to be a short period comet. Short period comets or sometimes also refereed as to Periodic Comets are comets which take less than 200 years to revolve around the star in its fixed orbit. Halley's comet is a kind of special because it is the only Short Period comet which is visible to naked eye and also because one may be able to see it twice in his/her life.
Its official discovery was made by Edmond Halley , after whom this comet is now known. He is also credited for the very first predictions about when the comet will be seen from Earth again. Halley's comet is the only known celestial body in our Solar system which revolves around the sun in an anti clockwise manner. Due to this its speed is the highest ever recorded relevant to the speed of Earth and the other planets. Its orbit around the sun is highly elliptical. This means that its orbit is more like a compressed oval than a circular orbit.
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