Catch the Peak of the Spectacular Eta Aquarid Meteor Shower this Weekend! (Video)

Want to see a meteor shower? You may be in luck. The annual Eta Aquarid meteor shower is set to peak this weekend, and may put up quite the show for people living in the Southern Hemisphere. That's a relief considering the lackluster performance that the Lyrid meteor shower put on in April.

The Eta Aquarid shower should be able to be seen from both northerly and southerly latitudes this May. It's expected to really peak in the dark hours before dawn on Sunday, May 5. However, there also may be similarly strong showings during the predawn hours on Saturday, May 4 and Monday, May 6. In fact, spectactors should be able to see around 20 to 40 meteors per hour in southern latitudes, according to EarthSky. Those in mid-northern latitudes should see a more modest 10 meteors per hour.

So when exactly can you see the meteor shower? The early hours of the morning are the best times to see this show. Make sure to keep away from the bright lights of the city. The meteors should seem to radiate from a certain point in front of the constellation Aquarius the Water Bearer, known as the radiant of the meteor shower. Yet the best way to actually see the meteors isn't to look at this point. Instead, get comfortable and look straight up at a clear sky in order to catch a glimpse of these streaking points of light.

The bright meteors that you can see zooming across the sky actually come from Halley's Comet, which crosses Earth's path in late April and May. Debris from this comet, which has a bright tail, fall into Earth's atmosphere where they burn and form the meteors that we should see this weekend.

If you end up missing the show this weekend, don't worry. You can check out last year's performance on the video below, courtesy of YouTube.