It's called the Eta Aquarid meteor shower and it's supposed to peak in a sky near you on May 5. Excited? So are we.
Believe it or not, this same set of shooting stars strike our skies each spring, when the Earth's spin interacts with a cloud of debris left behind by Halley's Comet (officially named 1P/Halley). That specific debris is also the cause of a second annual meteor shower—the Orionids, scheduled to peak on October 21 this year.
The stellar event is a pretty long one: it kicked off on April 19 and is supposed to last through May—but the peak on this side of the world will be during the early hours of May 5. To maximize your chances of seeing the shower in all of its glory, look up right before dawn and try to find an area that will provide you with unobstructed and clear views of the sky (while following social distancing rules, of course). Experts suggest that folks in North America look south to catch as much stargazing as possible.
In case you miss it, don't fret: there are a ton of other astronomical events that we expect to witness in May, from the last supermoon of 2020 (May 7) to a pretty close encounter between Jupiter and the moon on May 12. Don't worry, we'll be sure to remind you about them all in due time!
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