Halley’s comet dust shower back to light up night sky

The second meteor show in two weeks will peak next week as Earth passes through the dust trail of Halley’s comet – and you won’t even need a telescope to see it. HERE’S WHEN TO WATCH IT.

Mark Rigby, curator at the Mt Coot-tha planetarium, says a meteor shower caused by the Halley’s comet dust trail will peak on Tuesday.

ANCIENT debris from Halley’s comet will sizzle across Brisbane’s night sky over the long weekend, triggering the second meteor shower in a fortnight.

The eta Aquariid meteor shower is expected to peak on Tuesday and could see up to 20 meteors an hour zoom through the early morning sky.

The best place to see the twice-yearly show is in the Southern Hemisphere.

Brisbane City Council’s Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium Curator and astronomer, Mark Rigby, said no binoculars or telescopes were needed.

Viewers would also be treated to the sight of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, plus the constellation Scorpius, at the same time.

“If you’re up between 3am and 5am you will see the planets in the east and Scorpius straight up at 3am and towards the eastern sky by 5am,’’ he said.

“You can look anywhere in the sky for meteors, although they will come from the east.

“You’ll need to be patient because you could see one, then another and another, and then nothing for a while.’’

The Lyrid meteor shower peaked on April 21 and 22. It produced up to 18 meteors an hour.

The eta Aquariids occur when Earth passes through the stream of debris left behind by Halley’s comet, which takes 76 years to obit the sun and was last visible in Earth’s skies in 1986.

Halley’s comet passage, 1986

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Earth also passes through the Halley’s comet debris trail each year in October, an event called the Orionids because at that time the meteors appear to be coming from the direction of the constellation Orion.

“The meteors move very quickly – 66km/sec – and the glowing light you see isn’t from the tiny grain of rock itself, but actually from the white-hot compressed air in front of it,’’ Mr Rigby said.

“You’ll know you’ve spied an eta Aquariid meteor if you trace that glowing streak backwards and it appears to come from the same point as other meteors.”

Halley’s comet was the first comet predicted to return, by Edmond Halley, making its appearance in 1758 — 16 years after Halley’s death.

It’s the most famous of all comets and isn’t anticipated to return to Earth’s vicinity until 2061.

Mr Rigby said the Sir Brisbane Planetarium, run by Brisbane City Council at the Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens, would have some wonderful new shows for the public when it was safe to reopen.

They would include a live moon show, an Earth show and an American Museum of Natural History show.