Flaming Comet Dust Coming to a Hemisphere Near You: May 5/6, 2011

I caught a rare glimpse of a tweet about a meteor shower coming up this week.

Ooo. Surprise meteor shower!

So I Googled Eta Aquarids and found Meteor Showers Online. Perfect! Here's what I learned:

1. The meteors are from dust released by Halley's Comet.
   
   Neat! Famous comet dust. Count me interested.



2. "The point from where the Eta Aquarid meteors appear to radiate is located within the constellation Aquarius. Sadly, this location is a bit of a detriment to observers, because this area of this sky only rises an hour or so before morning twilight begins."
   
   What?! Like 4-5:30 a.m.?! Is it worth the effort?



3. "...observers in the Northern Hemisphere are likely to see about 10 meteors every hour, while Southern Hemisphere observers will see about 30 per hour."
   
   The Southern Hemisphere gets all the luck. But let's say I'm still willing to get up at that insane time of the morning. Where would I look for the best viewing?



4. "The Eta Aquarids generally appear to move fast. When you see a meteor, mentally trace it backward. If you end up at Aquarius then you have probably seen an Eta Aquarid meteor! If you are not sure where Aquarius is in the sky, the following charts..."
   
   Wait. "Charts?" "Trace it backward?" Yeh, right. If you're living in Colonial times. There's an app for that!

The super cool Sky Map app on Android or iPhone will take the mystery out of the location. I'll just search for Aquarius and let the app guide me to the perfect place in the sky.

Wow! That's easy. 

Now I'm excited enough to maybe-perhaps-maybe get up that early to check it out.

But since it's Richmond...

I'll keep an eye on the weather. In Richmond, VA, USA, efforts to see cool sky stuff are often thwarted by cloud cover. 106 days of partly cloudy skies + 156 of cloudy skies = a lot of potential for thwarting.

And speaking of Richmond, I often wonder where in Richmond I can go to get the best view.

There's the big sky out on the southside near 288 and Midlothian. And I've often wondered if Goochland Drive-In might be a good spot. Do you know of a great spot with a southeast view? Let me know.