Get ready for Eta Aquariids, one of 2024’s best meteor showers

Greetings from cruise ship Azamara Onward, underway in the Indian Ocean in the Southern Hemisphere. Onboard, we are gearing up to watch this year’s Eta Aquariids meteor shower, which is spawned by the famous Halley’s comet.

It is one of 2024’s best major meteor showers — and unlike last year, the moon will not spoil the view. The shower is the best one for 2024 in the Southern Hemisphere, where I will be.

Although the DMV will likely be clouded out on the predicted peak of highest meteor activity on May 5 and 6, the Subaru Observatory in Hawaii is currently providing access to a livestream of the Eta Aquariids meteor shower.

The shower is best seen looking toward the East from 2 a.m. local time through dawn. For Northern viewers the radiant — or point in the sky where the meteors appear to originate from — is low in the sky. For me, in the Southern Hemisphere, it is much higher in the East and may produce 60 or more meteors an hour.

My plan is to image the sky every 30 seconds with my camera while I sit back in a lounge chair on Deck 11 — with the lights out, to watch the sky show with others.

In the DMV area, it may be worth taking a peek on these dates and times to see if there is a break in the clouds, as the shower typically can produce a fair number (around 20-30) per hour in a dark sky site. Be comfortable and take in as much of the Eastern sky you can from your location.

I’ll share any good Eta pictures if I get them.

Good luck and clear skies.

Follow Greg Redfern on Facebook, X and his daily blog to keep up with the latest news in astronomy and space exploration.

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