But in order to get a glimpse, Canberrans will have to go outside in the middle of the night, look to the skies, and hope it's not going be cloudy.

Canberra is set to be treated to a spectacular meteor shower on Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning, as remnants of Halley's Comet pass into Earth's atmosphere and break up on entry.

The Eta Aquarid meteor shower, which normally takes place in early May, is renowned as one of the brightest meteor showers that happen each year.

However, Australian National University astronomer Dr Brad Tucker said factors had aligned to make the upcoming meteor showers even brighter than normal.

"In this case, the moon will not be as bright, and there will be good visibility days," Dr Tucker said.

"It's not often that we have quite a few days of good meteor showers in a row, there is usually only one good day and one or two OK days."

While many meteor showers take place during the day, and therefore are unable to be seen, the upcoming one will take place during the night.

The meteor showers are expected to be seen in Canberra skies from between 2.30 to 3am on each of the three days.

While meteor showers in the sky may appear random, Dr Tucker there were several that normally turn up at similar times each year.

"There's a few reliable ones that take place at roughly the same time each year, like the the Eta Aquarid which normally happens between May 3 and 7 and one between December 16 and 19," he said.

"The exact date differs each year because the exact point the Earth crosses the orbit of the comet debris."

Dr Tucker said while the meteors may look large, in reality, it was the opposite.

"Even though they are so bright and seem really big, sometimes they're as small as a grain of sand or a pebble," he said.

"However, because they're travelling so fast, even though it's small, we get those bright and beautiful colourful streaks."

Many meteors are expected to appear in the skies, but don't expect any to land in Canberra, or even at all.

Dr Tucker said it was unlikely the showers would result in meteorites - meteors that hit the ground - due to the small size of the meteors.

Despite many celestial events requiring a telescope to get a good view, the naked eye should be more than enough to see the showers.

The best vantage points to see the meteor showers are to look to the east or the north and in areas away from the moon or other sources of light.

"Mount Ainslie or towards Mount Mugga Mugga are best, or Lake George looking out towards the east because there's no light-obstructing views," Dr Tucker said.

"People think Mount Stromlo is the best, but you're looking out over the city and have a lot of light pollution.

"The good thing about the showers is that you don't need any special equipment to see it. You want to be in areas where you can see as much sky as possible."

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