Get up ridiculously early this weekend and you’ll be in for a treat, as the new moon coincides with this year’s Eta Aquarid meteor shower.
A barely visible moon means the meteors – which appear annually from late April to mid-May – will be much easier to see than at other times of the month.
The Eta Aquarid meteors take their name from the constellation Aquarius and are made up of layers of Halley’s Comet that are shed when it travels through the inner solar system – those planets closest to the sun.
You’ll need to be very dedicated to catch the phenomenon.
The showers are best viewed on Sunday morning just before dawn, from about 3am.
The meteor showers peak in early May, and are renowned for their speed.
They travel into the earth’s atmosphere about 238,000km per hour – or 66km per second – leaving a trail of glowing debris behind them.
According to NASA, in the Southern Hemisphere, about 30 meteors can be seen every hour at the peak of the showers.
This story originally appeared on 7News
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
