Every spring, Earth passes through a cosmic trail left behind by one of the most famous visitors from the outer solar system: Halley’s Comet. The result is the Eta Aquarids meteor shower, a dazzling display of shooting stars that’s set to peak this year during the night of May 5, 2025 into the early hours of May 6, 2025.
If you’re hoping to catch one of the best celestial shows of the season, here’s everything you need to know about the Eta Aquarids — including what causes them, where they’ll be visible, and how you can get the best view.
What Is the Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower?
The Eta Aquarids meteor shower occurs when Earth crosses paths with the stream of debris shed by Halley’s Comet during its cyclical journey around the Sun.
“Comet Halley takes 76 years to orbit once around the Sun,” says Nick Moskovitz, a planetary astronomer at Lowell Observatory. “When it approaches its closest point to the Sun, it heats up and leaves behind small bits of debris. That debris is like a trail of breadcrumbs that spreads throughout the orbit of Halley around the Sun.”
Every year in early May, Earth happens to pass through that trail.
“When that debris hits the Earth’s atmosphere at high speed, it vaporizes and produces meteors or shooting stars,” says Moskovitz. “The collection of meteors associated with comet Halley’s debris trail is known as the annual Eta Aquarid meteor shower.”
Read More: Shooting Stars Could Just Be Space Debris Moving at 100,000 Miles Per Hour
When and Where to See the Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower
In 2025, the Eta Aquarids meteor shower will peak overnight on May 5 and into the morning of May 6. And while the shower is active from roughly late April to mid-May, your best bet for catching the most meteors is to head outside after midnight within a few nights of the peak.
In terms of visibility, the Eta Aquarids favor observers in the Southern Hemisphere, where more than 30 meteors per hour might be visible under dark skies. However, skywatchers in the Northern Hemisphere, including across the U.S. and southern Canada, can still expect a respectable 10 to 30 meteors per hour, depending on viewing conditions and a little bit of luck.
“The Eta Aquarids are just one of two meteor showers linked to comet Halley. The other, the Orionids, appear every year in October, but the Eta Aquarids are generally the more active shower,” says Moskovitz. “The Eta Aquarids can be the third most active shower of the year.”
How to See the Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower
No matter the meteor shower, if you want to maximize your chances of seeing meteors, it’s all about location, patience, and preparation. Find an unobstructed dark-sky site that is far from city lights or other light pollution. Once you’re there, ditch any light sources and let your eyes adjust to the darkness for at least 20 to 30 minutes.
“Find a dark spot to watch, away from all lights. Stay off your phone. Get comfortable and be patient,” says Moskovitz. “Best viewing will generally be after midnight on the evening of May 5/6.”
The meteors will appear to radiate from the constellation Aquarius — hence the name Eta Aquarids — but you don’t need to stare directly at the meteor shower’s radiant to enjoy the show. In fact, looking about 45 degrees away from the radiant often provides a better chance to catch long, dramatic meteor trails.
Why the Eta Aquarids Matter
Meteor showers like the Eta Aquarids don’t just offer a stunning natural display — they also give scientists valuable insights into the life and behavior of comets like Halley.
For example, projects such as LO-CAMS (Lowell Observatory’s Cameras for All-sky Meteor Surveillance) — which Moskovitz leads — utilize networks of cameras to help researchers reconstruct the 3D paths that meteors take through the sky. This helps them pin down what the meteoroid orbits were like before they hit Earth’s atmosphere. And that backward tracing can help reveal which comet likely shed the meteoroid material in the first place.
“In the case of Eta Aquarid meteors,” says Moskovitz, “we see that their motion around the Sun closely resembles that of comet Halley, and this forms the foundation of linking the parent comet to the meteor shower.”
But such observation efforts don’t just help researchers connect meteor showers to their parent comets.
“For example, observations of meteors give us insight into the size of debris particles from the parent comet, which can be difficult to infer solely from telescopic observations of the comet,” says Moskovitz. “The sizes of these particles provide important clues into how comets lose material from their surface and what happens to that material in space.”
So, whether you’re an amateur astronomer or just someone who could use a good night under the stars, the Eta Aquarids offer something for everyone, including a tangible connection with one of history’s most famous comets.
Read More: Thousands Of Meteorites Hit Earth Each Year — Here’s What They Bring
Article Sources
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Jake Parks is a freelance writer and editor who specializes in covering science news. He has previously written for Astronomy magazine, Discover Magazine, The Ohio State University, the University of Wisconson-Madison, and more.
