Considered one of the most beautiful meteor showers of the year, Eta Aquáridas was recorded this morning by the monitoring station of Monte Castelo, in Santa Catarina. The maximum activity of this annual event is expected to occur on Friday (6), when up to 20 meteors can be observed per hour – and Brazil has a privileged view.
Eta Aquarids is so called because the meteors converge in the constellation Aquarius, with remnants of the famous Halley’s comet. This meteor shower takes place annually between April 19 and May 28, when Earth crosses the comet’s orbit where a trail of debris left over millions of years floats. Upon entering the atmosphere, they leave a luminous trail, which is harmless.
The planet passes through the comet’s path twice a year, at two different points, and is also responsible for Orionidas, in the constellation of Orion, which occurs every October.
Eta Aquarids was first associated with Halley’s comet in 1876 by British astronomer Alexander Stewart Herschel. In 1947, in the United Kingdom, the radio telescope at the Jodrell Bank observatory first detected this event in the radio range of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Halley is the only comet visible to the naked eye and passes through Earth’s region of the Solar System every 74 to 79 years. The last time it was possible to see it was in 1986, and its return is scheduled for 2061.
