Eta Aquarid Meteor Shower 2011

Meteors are wonderful to see, arriving unannounced and fleeting in an instant across the sky, obligating the hopeful viewer to pay attention or miss this spectacle of the heavens. On any given night if you simply are out viewing the skies, you will probably see one or two, but throughout the year there are special times when the Earth's orbit takes us through a region of space dust, creating meteor showers, in which the intensity and regularity of meteors increases dramatically.

The Eta Aquarid meteor shower peaks Thursday night, the night of May 5th into the morning of May 6th. This is not the biggest meteor shower of the year, but it certainly is interesting because it is caused by small bits of debris from the trail of Halley's Comet, the famous comet that orbits the Sun and is visible from Earth every 76 years. Comets leave small trails of debris in their wake, and comets that have orbits that intersect the orbit of Earth around the Sun create our annual meteor showers. So if you see an Eta Aquarid meteor tonight, you'll know it was once part of Halley's Comet, having been stripped away by the heating of the Sun on some past fly-by of Earth.

To see this shower, as is the case for all meteor showers, you need a dark location (even a backyard shielded from streetlights in the city will do), warm blankets, a recliner chair or a patch of grass to lie on, a big view of the sky, and patience. The name of this shower is based on Aquarius (the constellation) where the meteors appear to originate from, but they are visible all over the sky. Best viewing for this shower is early morning. The dawn sky will start to brighten around 5:00 am, so you will need to start early Friday morning if you want to see these. Have fun!

An Elusive Comet in Urban Skies: Hunting for Hartley 2

Comets can be bold and brash, streaking across the sky like Hale-Bopp in 1997 (see image on right), a comet that was visible even in light-polluted urban areas. Comets can be more humble but then unexpectedly brighten, as did Comet Holmes in 2007. This year marks the return of periodic Comet Hartley 2, a small but frequent visitor to the inner Solar System that is making a fairly close pass to the Earth (11 million miles) on October 20th. Because of the bright Moon on October 20th, this and last week mark the best chances to see the comet because the Moon is young and not brightening the sky. So I took a look last week and again this week to see if I could spot this elusive comet from a city location (last week in a suburb of Frankfurt, Germany and this week from my home in San Francisco).

I hunted quite a while on both occasions, using this very helpful map from Sky and Telescope Magazine. In fact, S&T has been running updates as viewers report seeing Comet Hartley 2 with binoculars. However, it seems that to see Comet Hartley 2 you need a location with very dark skies. I can attest to this, having twice tried and failed to discern the comet from the surrounding stars.

However, all is not lost. Searching for Hartley 2 requires you to find Cassiopeia, Perseus and Auriga, three very nice constellations that grace the Fall and Winter skies. While searching the path of the comet, you encounter a range of deep space objects near and between Cassiopeia and Perseus, and tonight the view was quite good. So even though city lights may have drowned out the faint comet, I enjoyed my first good look at the Double Cluster in Perseus and other celestial gems in the spiral arm of the Milky Way that is beyond Cassiopeia.

I recommend a good jacket, a comfortable chair or blanket, a few minutes patience, the S&T sky map, and binoculars. No matter whether your hunt for Comet Hartley 2 is a success or not, you will be glad you made the effort.