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Why is Halley’s Comet linked to the Eta Aquarid meteor shower?

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Comet Comet McNaught with filamentary tail and the Moon over the Pacific Ocean, photographed from Paranal Observatory, Chile, January 2007.

Halley’s Comet is linked to the Eta Aquarid meteor shower because the shower is composed of debris shed by the comet over millennia.12

As Halley’s Comet travels near the Sun, it undergoes a process of slow disintegration, releasing volatile ices and dust particles along its orbital path. This material forms a meteor stream—a trail of debris that remains distributed along the comet's orbit.132

Each year, Earth’s orbit intersects this stream of debris. When Earth passes through these particles, they enter the atmosphere and burn up, creating the visual phenomenon known as the Eta Aquarid meteor shower. Because the debris is distributed along the comet's path, the shower returns annually, typically reaching its maximum intensity around May 3.132