Since last April 19 and until next May 28, the night sky crosses the Eta Aquarids, fast meteors that leave long and bright trails and that are one of the most beautiful astronomical phenomena that you can enjoy this month of May. Not in vain is it the most important meteor shower of spring.
meteorites Eta Aquarids they can travel to 238,000 kilometers per hour into the atmosphere of the Landaccording to POT. One of the curiosities of this phenomenon is that the point from which it appears is the Aquarius constellation.
The Aquarids are produced due to the passage of the Earth through a zone of Remains of Halley’s Cometwhose next orbit around the sun will be in 2061. They have an activity rate that is between 40 and 85 meteors per hour in the northern hemisphere (in which Spain is located) and 100-120 in the southern hemisphere.
Even though the meteor shower It will be visible until the 28th, its peak will occur on the night of May 5-6. And it is in the days close to that date that they are most visible. That is why these days it has been possible to observe -and record- meteors or fireballs in different Areas of Catalonia and Andorra, above all, such as the one that was recorded this Thursday morning in Andorra -specifically, and as published on his Twitter account by the Bolide and Meteorite Research Network, at 2:30 a.m. TUC (or UTC), which is 4:30 p.m. peninsular:
PRECIOUS CAR #SPMN040523D OF THE ETA AQUARIDS RECORD TODAY FLYING OVER #ANDORRA at 2h30m31s TUC. This is how David Molner captured it @dmolner from breda, #Girona evolving at 66 km/s. This video shows its persistent greenish trail due to ozone recombination 😲👇 pic.twitter.com/7d1X8TvOav
— Bolides and Meteorites Research Network (SPMN)-CSIC (@RedSpmn) May 4, 2023
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The account explains that it was recorded by David Molner from Breda (Selva, Girona) «evolving at 66 km/s». But he has also posted images recorded from the Valencian towns of Barx and La Drova at 5.46 peninsular time or «3 brilliant Eta Aquarids» captured in just one minute (between 6 hours and 23-24 minutes peninsular time) «by Antonio Fernández from [el Parque Nacional de] Monfragüe, Cáceres«.
But already in previous days the same Twitter account has posted images recorded in Sant Fost de Campsentelles (Vallés Oriental, Barcelona)on the 2nd of the morning, shortly before dawn (at 6:04 a.m. peninsular time).
3) IN FULL COLOR REGISTERED FROM SANT FOST DE CAMPSENTELLES, #Barcelona by Lina Aguasca @linaguasca Delaware @MeteoSantFost. We see that the perspective is similar and appears between the Moon and the curious optical reflection caused by the lunar luminosity to its left pic.twitter.com/brIXtXBJI4
— Bolides and Meteorites Research Network (SPMN)-CSIC (@RedSpmn) May 2, 2023