The Eta Aquarid meteors should be most active in the early morning hours of May 6.
See the end note about enlarging illustrations.
This sky scene shows the radiant of the Eta Aquarids climbing into view after midnight. With each passing hour, the radiant moves higher and more meteor trails may show above the horizon.
The shower’s peak this year is predicted for May 6, 16 Universal Time. For North America and Europe, that is after the Sun rises, so the likeliest time is the darkness before then. A few Eta Aquarids can appear as early as April 19 or as late as May 28.
The radiant is the small area from which the meteor appear to fly out to any part of the sky. If on any of these nights you see a streak that you can trace back roughly to the triangle of stars forming the Urn or Water-Jar of Aquarius, the “Water-Carrier” constellation, it is probably a member of this stream and not a sporadic space particle.
The Eta Aquarids come at us from almost ahead, so the radiant is not far from the point marked “Earth’s direction of travel.”
The Eta Aquarid meteors are part of a stream shed from Halley’s Comet, and this stream is also seen in October as the Orionid meteors. To avoid repeating details and illustrations every year, I have put it all into another page in the “Astronomical miscellany.” Scroll down to the last item, “Halley meteors.”
Unfortunately, this year the Moon, only a day past full, is in the sky when the Eta Aquarid radiant rises, and does not set till near the end of the night. Its glare is liable to drown out all but the brightest meteors.
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ILLUSTRATIONS in these posts are made with precision but have to be inserted in another format. You may be able to enlarge them on your monitor. One way: right-click, and choose “View image” or “Open image in new tab”, then enlarge. Or choose “Copy image”, then put it on your desktop, then open it. On an iPad or phone, use the finger gesture that enlarges (spreading with two fingers, or tapping and dragging with three fingers). Other methods have been suggested, such as dragging the image to the desktop and opening it in other ways.