This meteor shower has been active since 19 April and will continue until 28 May, with the optimal viewing time being in early May.

Halley’s Comet and the Eta Aquarids

The comet’s relative fame is because observations of it helped astronomers understand that comets could make return trips to the night skies.

Halley’s Comet is visible from Earth every 76 years. Source: Getty / Getty Images/Getty Images

Each time Halley returns to the inner solar system, it sprays ice and rock into space, creating a debris stream that results in meteor showers.

The meteor shower takes place “as the Earth moves through a stream of debris originating from a specific part of the sky; once we’ve passed through it, the shower concludes for the year,” she explained.

Best places to view the Eta Aquarids

Those in the northern hemisphere will have the potential to see about a fifth of the meteors those in the southern hemisphere may get to see.

What stargazers should know

“Ensure there’s no large suburb or city directly north of your location to help minimize light pollution; try to get away from urban areas if possible, though the sky doesn’t need to be completely dark,” she advised.

The Eta Aquarids meteor shower as seen on 5 May 2024. Source: Anadolu / Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images

Hurley-Walker said that, while the Eta Aquarids happens every year, it was not easy to predict how visibly impressive a meteor shower may be.

“Because it’s just dust and stuff in space, we can’t see it until it hits the atmosphere and that means that some years are great and some years are a little bit of a washout, we really can’t tell until it happens.”

When you’ll be able to see the Eta Aquarids

Chandran suggests the prime time for people in most parts of Australia to view the meteor shower will be between 2am and 5.40am.