Nationalgeographic, By: Andrew Fazekas, 05/03/2013
Halley’s Comet won’t swing by Earth for another 48 years, but you won’t have to wait that long to watch bits of the iconic comet zip across our skies. That’s because this weekend Earth smashes into a stream of material, known as the Eta Aquarid meteors, shed from the speedy iceberg in years past.
Coming through the inner solar system every 76 years, Halley melts a bit from the heat of the sun and sheds some pounds as gas, dust, and rocks break off. All this material then gets deposited in clouds of debris which follow the same orbit as the comet.
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