Southern Hemisphere friends – Look out for the Alpha Centaur id meteor shower which will peak overnight 8/9 February. Although it will be visible through to 21 February
An exclusively southern hemisphere event. Alpha Centauri is the brightest of the ‘pointer stars’ to the Southern Cross. It rises before dark.
This isn’t a large meteor shower but the meteors can be bright.
This shower has regularly been seen since 1969 although it was first observed in 1938.
Meteors are often called “shooting stars,” but they actually come from bits of debris in space that hit Earth’s atmosphere and burn up.
Most meteor showers occur when Earth’s orbit around the Sun takes it through the debris that trails behind comets, icy bodies that orbit the Sun.
As particles from the comet hit the atmosphere at speeds of up to 200,000 kph, they become heated and appear as streaks of light across the night sky.
Meteor showers are best viewed from places that are away from city lights, as light pollution can drown out the shooting stars.
So if you can get out of the house and the sky is not clouded over, find a secluded spot and wait for your eyes to get adjusted to the dark.