Meteor shower: Eta-Aquarids, peak on May 6th 2am

[starfinder]

There is forecast to be a meteor shower, known as the Eta-Aquarids, to peak on Tuesday 6th May 2am Singapore time (May 5th, 18h UT).

A Zenithal Hourly Rate (ZHR) of 70+ (periodically variable ~ 40 — 85) is expected, making this one of the top 3 showers for the year.


The timing is quite favourable for us in Singapore (and Southeast Asia) for two reasons:

(1) The Moon will be just a few hours past New.

(2) While the radiant in Aquarius will be just below the horizon at due East at the forecast peak time of 2am, it will be about 20 degrees above the horizon at 4am and about 50 degrees at 6am, due East. Therefore, the radiant will be high in the sky just a couple of hours past peak time. In any event, even with the radiant just below the horizon at 2am, we would still be able to see about half the meteors then flying by.


See:
http://www.imo.net/calendar/2008?PHPSES ... fa093b#eta

"A fine, rich stream associated with Comet 1P/Halley, like the Orionids of October, but one visible for only a few hours before dawn, essentially from tropical and southern hemisphere sites. Some useful results have come even from sites around 40° N latitude in recent years however, and occasional meteors have been reported from further north, but the shower would benefit from increased observer activity generally. The fast and often bright meteors make the wait for radiant-rise worthwhile, and many events leave glowing persistent trains after them. While the radiant is still low, η-Aquariids tend to have very long paths, which can mean observers underestimate the angular speeds of the meteors, so extra care is needed when making such reports.

A relatively broad maximum, sometimes with a variable number of submaxima, usually occurs in early May. Fresh IMO analyses in recent years, based on data collected between 1984 — 2001, have shown that ZHRs are generally above 30 between about May 3 — 10, and that the peak rates appear to be variable on a roughly 12-year timescale. The next highest rates should fall towards 2008 — 2010, if this Jupiter-influenced cycle is borne-out, thus ZHRs should be around 70 or more in 2008, according to this idea. The unexpectedly strong Orionid return of 2006 October adds a degree of extra uncertainty over what may be possible from this shower too, and new Moon on May 5 makes this a perfect year for checking."


See also:
http://meteorshowersonline.com/eta_aquarids.html



Now, if I am crazy enough, I might just camp at East Coast Park (between carparks C4 and D1) on that Monday night - Tuesday morning... A perfect view out to the East, NE and SE !!

See the Novembver 2007 episode (entitled "Meteor Mania") of "The Sky at Night" about an exciting meteor watch:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/spac ... info.shtml

[starfinder]

Just a reminder that the Eta-Aquariids are due soon!


Although the peak is forecast to be on Tues May 6th 2am S'pore time, it seems that from a broad period of May 3-10, there will already be activity. See this extracted from above:

"A relatively broad maximum, sometimes with a variable number of submaxima, usually occurs in early May. Fresh IMO analyses in recent years, based on data collected between 1984 — 2001, have shown that ZHRs are generally above 30 between about May 3 — 10, and that the peak rates appear to be variable on a roughly 12-year timescale. The next highest rates should fall towards 2008 — 2010, if this Jupiter-influenced cycle is borne-out, thus ZHRs should be around 70 or more in 2008, according to this idea."

So we can start looking from this weekend! The radiant in Aquarius rises at about 2am.

[Clifford60]

Those going to Mersing tomorrow will have a great opportunity to view the shower.

[starfinder]

I've just done an observation watch for the Eta-Aquarids.

I viewed from my room windows and flat balcony, in the N, NE, E, SE, and S regions of the sky, from about 4am to 6.15am, when the radiant was about 30 degrees+ above the horizon at due East. This was just 2 hours after the predicted peak time of 2am. My vertical field of view extended from 10 degrees above the horizon to about 65 degrees.

In summary, I saw a grand total of 3 meteors during this period. A bit disappointing, as I was hoping to see at least 10, given the supposed ZHR of about 80 (and the appetisers we saw at Mersing over the weekend).

The first one this morning was a bright (perhaps mag -1) streak at 4.30am about 10 degrees long in the SE, heading away from the radiant's region in the East. The second and third ones were unusual, in that they appeared only as sudden bright points in the sky. I think this is because they were located very close to the radiant point, and an observer would be looking at them head-on. All three were white.

The skies were generally cloud-free, but hazy and moist. 2nd magnitude constellation stars (e.g. the Teapot and Scorpius) could be seen, but not dimmer ones. It was New Moon.

I had also gotten up briefly at 2am and viewed out of my window for 15 mins, saw nothing and went back to sleep. Earlier, at 10.30pm last night, I saw one 15 degree-long bright white meteor in the SE during a 20 minute period, but this one headed in the direction of the radiant, not away, so I'm not sure if it was part of the meteor shower.

[Airconvent]

Gavin
You are such an optimist and I am the opposite (according to Mr Portaball).
I have given up looking at meteor showers here. Its too cloudy.
All those reports in other parts of the world about many meteors per minute and fireballs makes the futile wait even worse...at least in Mersing I get to see 5-7 meteors on a non-shower day...

[Canopus Lim]

The best meteor shower to see in Singapore is Geminid (Dec 14)... consistently for 3 years I saw more than 10 meteors an hour. I have seen others showers in Singapore but they usually don't have that kind of number of meteors as the Geminids. Last year's Geminids was nice with very bright ones and I saw a very bright green slow moving meteor. First time saw such a green meteor.