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Light show coming as we pass through the tail of Halley’s Comet

ALPENA, Mich. — Our planet is currently passing through the tail of Halley’s Comet. The recurrence of this comet was discovered by Edmond Halley in 1758 and it passes earth about once every 75 years. The last time it passed us was 1986.

Every year our planet will pass through the tail of the comet, which is full of dust particles and rocks, which is what we see when a shooting star goes across the sky. “The debris field is nothing serious,” said Besser Museum’s Planetarium Coordinator John Winckowski. “It’s not like going through an asteroid belt. A lot of these particles are tiny little pebbles, rocks, dust grains and they burn up in the atmosphere, and that’s what the meteors themselves are.”

Winckowski said that this meteor shower, called Eta Aquariids, is one of the smaller ones, but as long as conditions cooperate it should still give a nice light show. “At it’s peak, it might be able to get up to 30 meteors per hour, but that’s assuming good conditions, dark skies, and just a bit of luck as well,” he said.

The shower will peak tomorrow morning, but it may be visible tonight, tomorrow, and Wednesday.