Moscow. 25th of April. INTERFAX – The May Aquarids starfall will be active in the sky all month, with its peak activity occurring on the night of May 5-6, according to the Moscow Planetarium website.
“The May Aquarids meteor shower, generated by Halley’s comet, is active throughout the month of May. The maximum starfall is on the night of May 5-6, up to 50 meteors per hour are expected. Conditions for observing meteors in 2024 are favorable! The moon is close to the new moon and will not interfere with the observation of meteors” , – the message says.
The best time to observe meteors is in early May in the predawn hours from 2:00 to 4:00 Moscow time and away from city lights, as specified on the Moscow Planetarium website.
“The difficulty in observing the eta Aquarids is that the radiant of the shower rises in the morning, and is best seen from the southern hemisphere. At mid-latitudes, the radiant of the May Aquarids is visible low above the southeastern horizon only a couple of hours before dawn. It culminates at about 8 o’clock morning local time,” the message says.
Meteors of the May Aquarids are fast and bright, leaving long trails in the sky. Their speed is quite high and amounts to almost 67 km/sec.
