Stargazers will get the opportunity to witness the 2014 Eta Aquarids meteor shower on early Tuesday morning (6 May).
Eta Aquarids meteor shower is made up of debris from one of the most famous comets in history: Halley's Comet, according to Space.com.
Halley Comet, which last passed through solar system in 1986, leaves dusty trail behind when it sweeps around the sun. The dusty trail is called as "cosmic litter".
The orbit Halley's Comet comes near the Earth's orbit at two points, the first in May which produces the Eta Aquarid meteor shower, and the second point in October which produces the Orionid meteor shower.
Eta Aquarids meteor shower is considered to be one of the best meteor showers by Australians.
This year the meteor shower, also called as shooting stars, will be visible from Monday night, but it will peak on Tuesday morning.
If the weather is clear, stargazers can witness over 60 meteors an hour. And if the weather is cloudy or some light spoils the view, viewers can watch it online via webcasts provided by NASA and Slooh community telescope.
"What makes this shower somewhat special is that the meteors stem from the most famous comet in all of history, Comet Halley. As Halley goes around the sun in its 76-year orbit, pieces of it, little chunks of ice, slough off the comet and we intersect that every year around this time, in early May. And we happen to hit this material just about head on producing one of the fastest displays of meteors of the year," Slooh astronomer Bob Berman said, according to Space.com.
The live coverage of the shooting star by Slooh will begin on Monday night on their official YouTube page.
Watch the video here:
[ED:VS]
