Wishing nights…

“Look, a shooting star! Make a wish!”

With the unexpected appearance of a luminous trail in the night sky, the first thing that comes to the mind of many observers is to make a wish. A thought that has been passed down from generation to generation, in numerous peoples and cultures around the globe.

The announcement by scientists who study these astronomical phenomena that between the night of May 5 and 6 the peak of the Eta Aquarids meteor shower will occur in 2025, is therefore an important motivation, and not only to make wishes.

The observation of more than 50 meteors per hour is a spectacle that beyond its mythological and religious origin, is the subject of research by astronomers and a source of inspiration for poets, musicians, writers, screenwriters and even lovers.

The meteor shower Eta Aquarids, also known as meteor shower, arrives every year at the beginning of May and occurs when the Earth, in its orbit around the Sun, passes through the remains of rock and ice left by Halley’s comet. Due to the great speed with which these particles enter the Earth’s atmosphere, friction increases and this produces the luminous trail that we call a meteor or shooting star.

It is worth bearing in mind that the particles that we see transformed into meteors this May were released by Halley’s comet hundreds or even thousands of years ago, in its more than 20 centuries of possible travels through the interior of the Earth’s atmosphere.

Famous because practically all human generations have the opportunity to see it at least once in their lifetime, Halley returns every 76 years and in that journey its nucleus expels a stream of debris that produces two meteor showers each year: the Eta Aquarids in May and the Orionids in October.

Whether they are the Aquarids, the Perseids, Geminids or Orionids, meteor showers are an astronomical phenomenon followed by mankind since it began to observe the sky to explain many of the processes it experienced on earth
Making a wish when a star supposedly falls was considered a gift from the gods -resident in the sky-, for earthly mortals. A belief that comes to our times covered with science, of truth, but with the necessary dose of romanticism to continue expressing.

“Look, a shooting star, make a wish!”

Written by Ana González Goicochea.