Eta Aquarid Meteor Shower 2013
The Eta Aquarid radiant at 03:00 UT (04:00 BST) in the UK on the morning of May 5th looking south of east.
Associated with dense patches of debris left by Halley's comet, the Eta Aquarids are not well viewed from northern latitudes, where up to 10 per hour may be seen in good conditions. The radiant is low down and in 2013 a thin crescent moon is also rising at the map time so won't interfere with viewing. While the maximum is on May 5th the peak rate spreads over a couple of days, so the mornings before and after may produce similar numbers of meteors. The shower produces 30 meteors or more in equatorial and southern latitudes.
Eta Aquarid meteors appear to originate from a point near the centre of the zodiacal constellation Aquarius, but it is better to look well away from this point. At the time shown the summer triangle of stars (Vega, Deneb and Altair) is high in the south with Vega overhead. Constellations prominent on Autumn evenings - Pegasus, Andromeda, Cassiopeia and Perseus - are all rising in the east while the bright orange star Arcturus is low in the west
Image generated using Stellarium