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 See the eta Aquarid meteor shower from anywhere. Here's when 
 
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 Meteorologist/Science Writer Scott Sutherland 
 
 Monday, May 2, 2016, 1:57 PM - Famous Halley's Comet is bringing a pre-dawn meteor shower to our skies on Thursday and Friday, and here's how you can watch it from anywhere, no matter what the weather is like. 
 
 Twice every year, Earth's orbit around the Sun carries it through streams of debris in space, left behind by the passing of Comet Halley. When the the tiny flecks of dust and ice that make up these streams plunge into Earth's atmosphere, they are moving fast enough to produce glowing trails through the sky, resulting in meteor showers. 
 
 On the mornings of May 5 and May 6, we will be able to see the first of these two Halley's Comet meteor showers - the Eta Aquarids. 
 
 Watch from anywhere 
 
 The meteor shower's radiant - the point in the sky where the meteors appear to emerge from - rises along with the constellation Aquarius, in the very early morning hours. The meteor shower should be visible from about 3 a.m. local time, until dawn, on both mornings. 
 
 
 
 The eta Aquarid radiant in the eastern sky, at 4 a.m. on May 5 and May 6, 2016. Credit: Stellarium/S. Sutherland 
 
 While it's not considered one of the strongest meteor showers that occur during the year, anyone with clear skies and far away from sources of light pollution should be able to see between 10 and 20 meteors per hour. 
 
 According to NASA, the morning of May 5 may be the better of the two days for viewing, with slightly more meteors visible in the sky, and the exact peak of the meteor shower is expected during daylight hours on May 5. 
 
 Below are maps of the expected cloud conditions for the two mornings (check back for updates to this forecast). 
 
 THE BIG REVEAL: Will a developing La Niña affect our summer as much as El Niño affected our winter? Tune in for the Summer Forecast on May 24 at 9pm EST and we'll help you plan your summer. 
 
 If the weather fails to cooperate with you on these two mornings, or the timing doesn't really work with your sleep schedule, the Slooh Community Observatory is hosting a live show, which can be viewed via the embedded video at the bottom of this article. 
 
 The Slooh show begins at 8 p.m. EDT, on the night of Thursday, May 5. 
 
 Meteor trains! 
 
 One of the remarkable things about the eta Aquarid meteor shower is that they can produce what are known as "persistent trains" - colourful, faintly glowing streaks that can persist in the sky from a few seconds to several minutes after the meteor has winked out. Some have even been observed for hours afterward. 
 
 What causes this is the exceptional speed of the meteoroids in the stream of cometary debris. 
 
 When a typical meteoroid passes through the Earth's upper atmosphere, it's travelling at around 100,000 km/h, and it compresses the air molecules directly in its path to the point where they heat up and glow. This glow persists for as long as the meteoroid exists (the heat vapourizes ice particles and smaller bits of dust) and as long as it's travelling fast enough to continue compressing the air (since the compressed air pushes back against the meteoroid, slowing it down). 
 
 The particles in the eta Aquarid stream hit Earth's atmosphere travelling at more like 240,000 km/h. This produces the bright meteor flash, and sometimes there's an added bonus. 
 
 After the meteor has winked out, a glowing trail can be left in the air. 
 
 Since these have only rarely been recorded, there's still some uncertainty about exactly how this is caused, however there are two basic ideas behind this effect. The first says that the meteoroids are travelling fast enough to actually strip electrons from the air molecules, ionizing them. As the air molecules reclaim those liberated electrons, the energy they release in the process is emitted as light. Since this process can take much longer than the original meteor flash, the "train" persists in the air afterward. The second says that metals vapourized off the fast-moving meteoroids chemically react with ozone and oxygen to produce the glow via chemiluminescence. One of these explanations may account for these "trains" or both may cover different occurrences, at different times, and even between individual meteors. 
 
 It will take more sightings of these to fully explain them. 
 
 Sources: NASA | Slooh | With files from The Weather Network 
 
 Watch Below: The Slooh Community Observatory eta Aquarid show starts at 8 p.m. EDT, Thursday, May 5. ||||| Halley’s Comet won’t make a full return to the skies until 2061. But tonight, you can catch a glimpse of it in the Orionid meteor shower. 
 
 Earth is currently passing through a patch of debris created in the wake of the comet’s tail. When that debris hits our atmosphere, it will burn up and spray the night sky with light. 
 
 This year, the shower will peak overnight Saturday into early Sunday morning, with 15 to 20 meteors per hour. If the skies are clear, some meteors will be visible Friday night into Saturday morning as well. 
 
 These meteors are named “Orionid” because they appear to emanate out of the constellation Orion, which takes the shape of a hunter wearing a most-fetching three-star belt. (Specifically, they appear to radiate from his “club.”) It’s one of the most recognizable constellations in the night sky. 
 
 We come across this patch of debris again in May, when the skies light up with the Eta Aquarid meteor shower. 
 
 NASA notes these are “fast” meteors, traveling at about 148,000 mph as they smash into our atmosphere. “Fast meteors can leave glowing ‘trains’ (incandescent bits of debris in the wake of the meteor) which last for several seconds to minutes,” the space agency explains. 
 
 That’s cool. But even cooler: “Fast meteors can also sometimes become fireballs: Look for prolonged explosions of light when viewing the Orionid meteor shower.” 
 
 You’ll want to be in as dark of a place as you can get to, like a park far away from city lights. Check out this light pollution map to chart out a dark place to watch. The Washington Post also has a handy map predicting what regions of the country will be free of cloud cover. Check it out. 
 
 And you don’t need to be looking directly at the constellation Orion to spot the meteors. They’ll be shooting off in all directions. But if you stay up past midnight, Orion will climb higher and higher in the sky, and the meteors will be easier to spot. Just before dawn — after the moon sets around 5 am — may be the best, darkest, time of all to watch. (Check when the moon sets in your area at timeanddate.com.) 
 
 Just find a dark spot, lie down, and look up. NASA suggests to generally gaze in a southeastern direction. 
 
 And bring a sleeping bag. It might get cold! If you miss this meteor shower, no worries. Next up are the Leonids, which peak around November 17.
– The Eta Aquarids meteor shower happens when Earth passes through the debris left behind by Halley's Comet, and it's peaking this week, the New York Times reports. The Weather Network reports that most everyone will have a good view of the shower Thursday and Friday. About 10 to 20 meteors per hour will be visible between 3am and dawn local time, just to the left of the constellation Aquarius, those mornings. Those wanting the best view may want to avoid clouds and light pollution. Oh, and don't blink. “If you blink, you’re not going to see them. They move that fast,” a NASA astronomer tells the Times. The meteors, which are typically about the size of a grain of sand, are traveling approximately 148,000mph when they hit the atmosphere.