The Eta Aquariids are a meteor shower associated with Halley's Comet.
The shower is visible from mid April to late May each year with peak activity on or around May 6.
Although this shower is not as spectacular as the Leonids, it is not an ordinary event. The Eta Aquariids get their name because their radiant appears to lie in the constellation Aquarius, near one of the constellation's brightest stars, Eta Aquarii. The shower peaks at about a rate of around a meteor per minute, although such rates are rarely seen from northern latitudes due to the low altitude of the radiant.
The Eta Aquariids are best viewed in the pre-dawn hours away from the glow of city lights. For northern observers, the radiant of the shower is only above the horizon for the few hours before dawn, and early-rising observers are often rewarded with rates that climb as the radiant rises before sunrise.
In 2005, the shower was favorably viewable because it occurred near a new moon. In 2011, the maximum of the shower was again favoured by a new moon, falling on 3 May, which meant that the period around maximum was visible in moon-free skies. In 2012 they were seen on May 6, 2012 along with a supermoon around dusk.