Eta Aquariid Meteor Shower to Dance Across the Sky This Weekend

After days of clouds and showers, the weather is improving just in time for some delightful sky-watching in the night sky this upcoming weekend – sort of. 

The headliner is the eta Aquariid meteor shower, set to peak Saturday night.  The eta Aquariids represent the debris field from Halley’s Comet and is a perennial occurrence for New England in the spring.  Earth crosses this debris field over the course of weeks, so it’s possible to see eta Aquariids already, and for several nights after Saturday, but the center of the debris stream intersects with Earth Saturday, which is why that’s the best display. 

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Having said that, and while the expectation is for New England to see 10-15 meteors per hour at its peak (as compared to 30 per hour in the tropics), there are some limiting factors, namely the location of these meteors – emanating from the constellation Aquarius, their apparent source in our sky won’t be clearly visible until just a couple of hours before sunrise, making the predawn hours the best chance for viewing. 

There’s another heavenly sight that will further dampen meteor viewing, but be impressive in and of its own right: the full Flower Moon.  Technically full at 1:34 p.m. Friday, but not rising until 8:05 p.m. Friday night in Boston, the Flower Moon will still be about 98% full Saturday night, rising at 9:20 p.m. and setting at 6:28 a.m. Sunday, meaning it will provide plenty of light to our increasingly green New England spring landscape, but also making dim eta Aquariid meteors even tougher to see in those predawn hours.

This one may not be worth waking the kids up for, but it’s always worth looking up, regardless of the time and location – you just may see something beautiful anyway.