The Eta Aquarid Meteor Shower Peaks Tonight—Here's How to See the Light Show

Stargazers could experience a celestial light show tonight.

The Eta Aquarids meteor shower has been active since April 19 and continues through May 28, reaching its peak tonight, May 5, into the morning hours of Wednesday, May 6.

Viewers in the Southern Hemisphere have a chance of seeing up to 50 meteors per hour, while those in the Northern Hemisphere could see up to 10, according to NASA.

That's because the radiant—the point from which the meteors appear to originate—is located near a bright star in the Aquarius constellation called Eta Aquarii, which is higher in the sky in the Southern Hemisphere than in the Northern.

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The Aquarids occur when the Earth passes through the trail of ice and rock left behind by Halley’s comet. As the debris burns up in our atmosphere, the meteors leave bright streaks in the sky, also known as shooting stars. They zoom into the atmosphere at around 40.7 miles per second, leaving glowing “trains” that can last for several seconds to minutes, per NASA.

The agency also explains that, in the Northern Hemisphere, Eta Aquarid meteors can more often be seen as "Earthgrazers"—long meteors that appear to skim the surface of the planet at the horizon.

To see the meteor shower, head to a dark location, away from light pollution, and allow about 30 minutes for your eyes to adjust. You'll want to look to the east.

Keep in mind, though, that the waning gibbous moon will be 84 percent full, according to the American Meteor Society, making it harder to spot fainter meteors. So you might want to find a spot where the moon is behind a building or hill for a better chance of seeing the shooting stars.