The Eta Aquarid meteor shower will peak overnight May 5-6, with the best view expected before dawn on May 6, when the shower’s radiant is highest in the sky. The display is active from April 19 through May 28 in 2025, and it is one of the stronger annual showers, with meteors racing across the sky at about 41 miles per second.
In a clear sky, the shower can produce about 50 shooting stars per hour at its best, though observers north of the equator should expect closer to 10 to 30 meteors per hour during the peak. The Eta Aquarids appear to come from the constellation Aquarius, but the show is best seen from the Southern Hemisphere or near the equator, where the radiant climbs higher.
This year, the timing is less than ideal. The shower peaks alongside a bright waning gibbous moon, which can wash out fainter meteors and cut into visibility even when the sky is clear. The best answer for anyone hoping to catch upcoming meteor showers is to find the darkest possible location, give their eyes at least 30 minutes to adjust, and skip the telescope and binoculars.
The meteors are fragments of debris left by Halley’s Comet, and that connection makes the Eta Aquarids one of the more familiar spring displays for skywatchers. Observers in some northern latitudes can still catch it, but the moon and the shower’s position in the sky mean the strongest show will belong to viewers farther south, just before dawn on May 6.