Stargazers set for 'celestial fireworks treat' as Earth passes Halley’s Comet

There will be several hours of shooting stars as the Earth passes through the dust leftover from Halley’s Comet. File picture: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

Irish stargazers will be treated to a “celestial fireworks treat” on Wednesday night.

There will be several hours of shooting stars as the Earth passes through the dust left over from Halley’s Comet.

The Eta Aquariid meteor shower is expected to peak on the night of May 5, with up to 50 meteors per hour, and will be visible until the early morning of May 6.

According to Astronomy Ireland, as Earth moves through the leftover cloud of dust, the particles fall into our atmosphere and burn up, creating the spectacular streaks of light in the sky known as meteors or shooting stars.

This celestial display is associated with Halley’s Comet, officially designated 1P/Halley, which orbits the Sun once every 76 years.

The Eta Aquariids takes its name from the constellation of Aquarius in the southern hemisphere, where the shooting stars appear to originate from.

Meteoroids from Halley’s Comet strike the Earth’s atmosphere at a speed of around 150,000 miles per hour (240,000kph), burning up in the process.

Stargazers can expect to see shooting stars this evening with the best visibility being between midnight and dawn.

“We should see perhaps five to 10 times more shooting stars and meteors than normal,” said David Moore of Astronomy Ireland.

So a real celestial fireworks treat for people who want to stay up late until dawn.”

And the good news on the weather front is that the skies should be clear.

Met Éireann is predicting that showers will die out early tonight “to leave a mainly dry night with clear spells”.

However, it will be a cold night with temperatures expected to drop to as low as minus three.

It’s been an exciting few weeks for stargazers as last month they were treated to April’s super pink moon.

The April full moon is called a pink moon as the month coincides with the blooming of pink flowers.

It was visible to space fans over three nights last week.