You Might See Meteors on the SouthCoast This Week

Will meteors be streaking through the night sky this week? Yes.

Will you actually be able to see them here on the SouthCoast? Maybe.

The yearly Eta Aquarids are going to be arriving Wednesday night into Thursday morning, but the timing needed to see them will make sightings tough to come by.

Each May as Halley's Comet sweeps around the sun – most years unseen by folks on Earth –  it leaves behind some of its dusty trail following it through space. And that "cosmic litter," as space.com likes to call it, will be littering our night sky this week.

Sadly, clouds will also be littering our night sky this week, but there is still a good chance that as skies clear on Wednesday night, it will leave you with a view of a few meteors by early Thursday morning.

And when I say early, I mean early.

The sun is going to start lighting things up around 4 a.m., so if you want some serious pitch black to try and find these meteors in you will need to either stay up until about two or three in the morning or set your alarm for that time.

Either way, your window is brief and the meteors are few and far between.

This far north, the Eta Aquarids are going to be passing by pretty low to the horizon, where the peaks of sun hit the earliest, so don't expect to see dozens and dozens of shooting stars across the sky.

But if you are awake and want to try and see one or two to make some wishes on, then find yourself a spot away from the city lights and look up.

That's it. No need for a fancy telescope or special app to track the night sky. Just get a blanket, lay down and watch.

Stay awake and you are probably going to see at least a shooting star or two – and meteor watchers say it is totally worth it.

Plus, you'll know that the streaks of light you see in the sky originated from inside Halley's Comet, which is still 40 years away from making its next appearance in the Earth's atmosphere.