The Eta Aquariid meteor shower is about to peak. Here's how to see it
Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more.
The Eta Aquariid meteor shower is about to reach its peak — and you'll need to get up early to see this celestial show. However, it's the last meteor shower until late July, and is considered to be one of the best annual showers in the Southern Hemisphere, according to NASA.
While experts differ on the exact peak of this meteor shower, they agree that the best times to view it are in the early morning hours before dawn on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, according to EarthSky and the American Meteor Society.
On Tuesday, the moon will set by 3 a.m. in any time zone, providing dark skies for optimal viewing, according to NASA.
Those watching the sky in the Northern Hemisphere can expect to see about 10 to 20 meteors per hour between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m., experts at the American Meteor Society said. But sky-gazers in the southern half of the US and the Southern Hemisphere could see many more, EarthSky shared.
The Eta Aquariid shower produces swift meteors with persistent, visible trains streaking behind them that can linger for seconds after the meteors zip by, but few bright fireballs, according to the American Meteor Society.
The source of the Eta Aquariid meteor shower is Halley's comet. Earth crosses the comet's orbital path each spring between April and May, causing small grains of rock and dust shed by the comet to strike our planet's atmosphere and create a dazzling meteor display. It happens again in October, resulting in the Orionid meteor shower.
Halley's comet was last visible streaking across Earth's night sky in 1986, and it will swing back by in 2061 as it travels on a 76-year orbit around the sun.
The meteors appear to be coming from the northeastern part of the Aquarius constellation, which contributes to the name of the shower.
While the meteors seem as though they're originating from the faint star Eta Aquarii, it's 170 light-years away. The meteors actually burn up just 60 miles (100 kilometers) above Earth's surface, according to EarthSky.
If you live in an urban area and want to see the Eta Aquariids, you might want to drive to a place that isn't littered with city lights that will obstruct your view. The darker the skies, the more likely you are to see an increased number of meteors.
Find an open area with a wide view of the sky. Make sure you have a chair or blanket so you can look straight up. And give your eyes about 20 to 30 minutes to adjust to the darkness — without looking at your phone — so meteors are easier to spot.
Here are peak dates for other meteor showers to anticipate this year, according to the American Meteor Society and EarthSky.
Southern Delta Aquariids: July 29–30
Alpha Capricornids: July 29–30
Perseids: August 12–13
Draconids: October 8–9
Orionids: October 22–23
Southern Taurids: November 3–4
Northern Taurids: November 8–9
Leonids: November 16–17
Geminids: December 12–13
Ursids: December 21–22
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
21 minutes ago
- USA Today
Missed the strawberry moon? Here's when the next full moon will be
Skies lit up with a rare strawberry moon on June 10, but some may not have seen the celestial phenomenon. The full moon, which appeared in hues of orange and red, peaked around 3:44 a.m. ET on June 11, but it was advised to check it out on the evening of June 10. The strawberry moon is the most colorful of the year because it takes a low and shallow path across the sky, said Bob Bonadurer, director of the Milwaukee Public Museum's planetarium. The full moon's arc across the sky means moonlight must travel through more of the Earth's atmosphere, which can give it a colorful tint, he added. The moon gets its "strawberry" name from the Native American Algonquian tribes, who lived in the northwestern United States, according to the Almanac, and not from the color. The Ojibwe, Dakota and Lakota tribes also used the name, which marked the wild strawberries season in June. The full moon is also unique because it appeared lower due to the Earth being in "a major lunar standstill," according to EarthSky, which impacts the moon's orbit around the Earth. "It's all about the inclination of the moon's orbit, which undergoes an 18.6-year cycle," writes EarthSky's John Jardine Goss. "The cycle happens because the moon's orbit is being slowly dragged around — mostly due to the pull of the sun — every 18.6 years." The last major lunar standstill occurred in 2006. When is the next full moon? In case you missed the strawberry moon, it might be partially visible on the night of July 12. Meanwhile, here is when the rest of 2025's full moons are expected: July 10 - Buck Moon - Buck Moon Aug. 9 - Sturgeon Moon - Sturgeon Moon Sept. 7 - Harvest Moon - Harvest Moon Oct. 6 - Hunter's Moon - Hunter's Moon Nov. 5 - Beaver Moon - Beaver Moon Dec. 4- Cold Moon Summer solstice with a treat: How to see the full strawberry moon See pictures of strawberry moon Contributing: Julia Gomez, Doyle Rice, Janet Loehrke & Carlie Procell / USA TODAY Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@ and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
What a Spiral in the Oort Cloud Could Mean for Life on Earth
A routine planetarium show at New York's Hayden Planetarium just triggered a potentially historic discovery in astrophysics. While curating scenes for 'Encounters in the Milky Way,' a team of scientists and animators stumbled across something surprising: a spiral structure hidden within the data modeling the Oort Cloud, which is one of the most mysterious regions in our solar system. The Oort Cloud, theorized to be a spherical shell of icy objects orbiting far beyond Neptune, has long remained unseen. Yet when astrophysicist Jackie Faherty noticed the unexpected shape during a simulation, she called in Oort Cloud expert David Nesvorny to investigate, according to a CNN report. It wasn't an animation glitch. It was real data. Nesvorny, who had generated the simulation, admitted he'd never viewed his data in three-dimensional Cartesian coordinates. When he did, the spiral structure emerged clearly. 'Weird way to discover things,' he said. 'I should know my data better.' This accidental find prompted Nesvorny to run weeks of simulations on NASA's Pleiades Supercomputer. Every model confirmed it: a spiral, caused not by the sun's gravity alone, but by the galactic tide—the pull of the Milky Way's own gravitational field acting on the outermost parts of our solar system. Ultimately, he published the findings in The Astrophysics Journal. The discovery reshapes long-held assumptions. While the outer Oort Cloud might still be spherical, the inner part appears to twist in a spiral pattern, suggesting our solar system is more dynamically connected to the galaxy than once thought. Still, verifying the spiral won't be easy. The icy bodies in the Oort Cloud are too small and distant to observe directly. Even with the powerful new Vera C. Rubin Observatory, scientists expect to find only a handful—far short of the numbers needed to fully confirm the structure. But as Faherty put it, the dome of a planetarium can now double as a tool of discovery. 'This is science that hasn't had time to reach your textbook yet,' she said. What a Spiral in the Oort Cloud Could Mean for Life on Earth first appeared on Men's Journal on Jun 11, 2025
Engadget
2 hours ago
- Engadget
NASA is shutting down some official social media accounts, including the Curiosity rover's handle
NASA is shutting down several social media accounts run by the Science Mission Directorate, including the official Mars Curiosity Rover account on X. The organization says it made the decision in order to "make its work more accessible to the public, avoiding the potential for oversaturation or confusion." The "social media consolidation project" is concentrated in part on X, where there are dozens NASA accounts affiliated with specific missions and areas of research. So far 29 accounts are being archived or consolidated with other accounts, including @MarsCuriosity and @NASAPersevere, the two accounts for the organization's Mars rovers. Posts about both missions will now come from the more general @NASAMars. Some social media accounts will also "rebranded to better align with the new strategic framework," NASA says, "reflecting a broader scope or a more direct connection to core NASA initiatives." With "over 400 individual accounts across 15 platforms" it's not exactly unreasonable that NASA is trying to streamline things, but there is some much appreciated specificity lost when news and information is coming from a more general account. NASA's Curiosity is beloved and the agency's research into Mars was likely more well-known because the social media account made identifying with the rover easier. Beyond social media accounts, NASA could be heading into next year with far fewer resources in general. The Trump administration's proposed 2026 budget includes around a $6 billion cut to NASA's funding. The limited resources could lead to multiple planned missions being cancelled The Washington Post reports, including sending a probe to Venus, taking mineral samples from asteroids and studying gravitational waves with the European Space Agency.
