The Eta Aquarids are an annual meteor shower that occur within mid April to late May.

According to the American Meteor Society, the peak of the Eta Aquarid Meteor Shower will take place on May 5, and the best time to see the meteors would be after midnight through 5am.

Assuming cloud cover is not an issue (and the haze is not too thick), the meteor shower is expected to produce as many as 10 to 20 meteors per hour. Here in Metro Atlanta, overnight temperatures will be in the mid 60s, and the wind will be light -- out of the west southwest at 5-10 mph.

No special equipment is necessary to watch the meteor shower, though it is best to avoid street lights and other brightly light areas of the city.

According to EarthSky.org, “The object responsible for the Eta Aquariid meteor shower – that is, its parent comet – is the famous Halley’s Comet. This comet is in a retrograde orbit around the sun. That means it runs around the sun in the opposite direction from Earth and all the other planets. As a result, we pass near its path twice, one time along the outbound portion of the comet’s orbit. That happens every early May, causing the Eta Aquariid meteor shower. The other time is along the inbound portion of the comet’s orbit, and that passage causes the Orionid meteor shower in late October of each year.”

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