Eta Aquarids meteor shower peaks May 6-7 with up to 10 shooting stars per hour

If you were outside on the night of May 6th or 7th and looked up at the right moment, you might have caught something that most people miss: a streak of light moving faster than thought across the dark sky. The Eta Aquarids meteor shower peaks those two nights, and for anyone willing to stay up late and find a patch of darkness, the reward is roughly ten shooting stars per hour.

These meteors are not random cosmic debris. They are fragments left behind by Halley's Comet, the famous visitor that swings past Earth roughly once every 76 years. Right now, Halley's Comet is far away—past Neptune, moving slowly back toward the inner solar system—but the trail of dust and rock it shed over centuries remains, and every May, Earth passes through it. When these particles hit the upper atmosphere at 65 kilometers per second, they ignite. The friction creates not just a bright flash but a glowing train that can linger for seconds or even minutes, painting the sky with light.

The shower is named after Eta Aquarii, one of the brightest stars in the Aquarius constellation, which is the point in the sky from which the meteors appear to radiate. During the peak, Eta Aquarii rises in the east around 3am, but meteors can appear anywhere overhead—the radiant point is simply a reference, not a boundary. The phenomenon is visible to the naked eye, which means no telescope or binoculars are needed, only patience and darkness.

Timing matters. The Observatory at Science Centre Singapore recommends viewing after 1am, when ambient light from cities and towns has diminished. The best locations are parks, beaches, reservoirs, or any open space far from streetlights and buildings. Once you've found your spot, give your eyes about thirty minutes to adjust to the darkness. That's when the meteors become visible—not as a constant stream, but as sudden, bright lines that appear and vanish in seconds.

Weather will play a role. Cloud cover can obscure the view entirely, and the moon itself becomes a factor. On May 6th and 7th, the moon will be in its waning gibbous phase, meaning it will be more than half lit and will rise around 11pm to midnight. That brightness can wash out the fainter meteors, making the brighter ones easier to see but reducing the total count an observer might witness.

The shower has been active since April 20th and will remain visible until May 21st, so there is a window of opportunity beyond just those two peak nights. Last year, a stargazer in Singapore saw at least eighteen meteors in just over an hour at Tai Keng Gardens in Hougang, capturing several on camera. It was her first time watching a meteor shower, and the experience stayed with her.

Halley's Comet itself will not return to Earth's vicinity until 2061. In the meantime, the debris it left behind will continue to create these annual displays. In October, the same comet will produce another meteor shower, the Orionids. But for now, the Eta Aquarids offer a rare moment to witness something ancient and fast and beautiful, if you know when and where to look.