By Will Dunham(Reuters) – Meteors will be streaking across the sky as Earth passes through dusty debris in space left by Halley’s Comet in the annual Eta Aquariid meteor shower, with peak activity in early May.Here is an explanation of this meteor shower.WHAT IS A METEOR?Meteors are space rocks and other material that burn up as they plummet through Earth’s atmosphere, leaving a bright streak in the sky. They also are called shooting stars or falling stars, though they are not stars. Comets can be a source of meteor showers because they cast off dust and debris as they orbit the sun. Meteor showers happen annually or at regular intervals when our planet, during its orbit of the sun, journeys through trails of such debris.WHY IS IT CALLED THE ETA AQUARIID METEOR SHOWER?It gets its name because the origination point in the sky – called the radiant – for the debris that burns up in the atmosphere is in the constellation Aquarius – the “water bearer” – and close to Eta Aquarii, one of the constellation’s brightest stars and one of th …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnBy Will Dunham(Reuters) – Meteors will be streaking across the sky as Earth passes through dusty debris in space left by Halley’s Comet in the annual Eta Aquariid meteor shower, with peak activity in early May.Here is an explanation of this meteor shower.WHAT IS A METEOR?Meteors are space rocks and other material that burn up as they plummet through Earth’s atmosphere, leaving a bright streak in the sky. They also are called shooting stars or falling stars, though they are not stars. Comets can be a source of meteor showers because they cast off dust and debris as they orbit the sun. Meteor showers happen annually or at regular intervals when our planet, during its orbit of the sun, journeys through trails of such debris.WHY IS IT CALLED THE ETA AQUARIID METEOR SHOWER?It gets its name because the origination point in the sky – called the radiant – for the debris that burns up in the atmosphere is in the constellation Aquarius – the “water bearer” – and close to Eta Aquarii, one of the constellation’s brightest stars and one of th …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
