Halley Comet
Halley Comet

Halley's Comet was last seen passing near the earth 24 years ago. The Comet passes through our inner solar system every 76 years. As most of us having an interest in astronomy know that the Halley's Comet is a huge piece of rock orbiting our sun at a very high speed. The reason that the Halley's Comet is called a Comet and not a planet is that it travels at speeds much greater than planets. Planets travel at a relatively slow speed whereas comets travel at extremely fast speeds leaving behind a trail of meteors and meteorites that are usually called the comet's cosmic dust.

There is still a long time before the Halley's Comet can be seen again, but nowadays the comet is at such a position (far away from the earth obviously) that its cosmic dust can be seen in form of some meteor showers near the earth. The shower is expected to become visible 3 to 4 days before and after May 6th.

The meteor shower is expected to show meteors at the rate of 40 per hour, but due to the awkward position of the shower and the presence of the moon's light the full rate might not be visible to stargazers. It is expected that for people living north of the equator the meteor shower would be visible at the southeast horizon. For residents of North America the angle of meteor visibility would be 26 degrees north latitude and 35 degrees latitude. For people who live in the southern hemisphere there is going to be maximum visibility.