Eta Aquariids peak tonight, but moon glows

Meteor showers are usually simple: go outside, look up, wait. The Eta Aquariids are a little trickier tonight. The shower is peaking overnight from Tuesday, May 5, into Wednesday, May 6, 2026, and it’s one of the year’s better displays — but a bright waning gibbous Moon is going to steal a lot of the show. The result is a skywatching night with real upside, just not the postcard version people imagine. ### What’s peaking tonight? The Eta Aquariids are the annual meteor shower tied to Comet 1P/Halley. Every year, Earth runs through dusty debris left behind by Halley, and those tiny grains hit the atmosphere fast enough to burn into bright streaks. NASA flags the shower as an early-May event, and the American Meteor Society lists the 2026 peak for May 5–6. ### Why do people care about this one? This shower is known for speed. Eta Aquariid meteors slam into Earth’s atmosphere at about 40.7 miles per second — roughly 65.4 kilometers per second — so the brighter ones can leave glowing trains hanging for a few seconds or longer. Under ideal dark skies, the shower’s theoretical peak rate can be high, which is why it gets attention every year. ### So what’s the problem tonight? The Moon. That’s basically the whole problem. The AMS says the Moon is 84% full at peak, and EarthSky says that bright waning gibbous light will severely cut into the visible rate by washing out the fainter meteors. You may still catch the brighter streaks, but the sky won’t be dark enough for the shower to show its full strength. ### When should you actually look? Before dawn. Not late evening, not around midnight — the hours just before sunrise are the sweet spot. That’s because the shower’s radiant in Aquarius climbs higher toward dawn, which makes more meteors visible. NASA’s May skywatching guide points to May 5 and 6 as the best time, and EarthSky says both mornings are worth trying even with the moonlight. ### Who gets the best view? People farther south. The Eta Aquariids favor the Southern Hemisphere and the tropics, where the radiant rises higher and the shower can look much richer. In the northern United States, you can still see it, but typical rates are lower even before you factor in moonlight. EarthSky notes that the southern half of the U.S. has the better shot. ### Can you beat the moonlight at all? A little. You can’t make an 84%-lit Moon disappear, but you can cheat the glare. Put the Moon behind a building, tree line, hill, or anything that blocks direct light, then let your eyes adjust. The trick is a bit like shielding a flashlight with your hand so you can see what’s beyond it. Darker locations still matter, and so does patience. ### Is tonight the only chance? No — just the best-marked peak window. The shower stays active well beyond a single night. The AMS lists the 2026 Eta Aquariids as active from April 19 to May 28, so stragglers are still possible on nearby mornings, though peak timing is when the odds are highest. You still have a real chance to catch fast, bright meteors from Halley’s Comet. Just go in with the right expectation — tonight is less “meteor storm” and more “bright streaks if you’re patient and the Moon doesn’t win.”