Eta Aquariids in Barcelona

The Eta Aquariids meteor shower peaks from Barcelona around May 5-6, with up to 40 meteors per hour under ideal conditions. In 2026 a new moon means dark skies, and from Barcelona the radiant in Aquarius climbs to 22° above the east horizon around 05:30. Local best viewing window: 04:15–05:30 CEST on the peak night, about 1.2 hours of nautical twilight. Scaled to that altitude, the 40/hour headline figure works out to roughly 15 meteors an hour from Barcelona under a genuinely dark sky. At this latitude the sky never gets fully dark that night — the Sun only reaches 32.1° below the horizon — so only the brighter meteors will show. Tonight: cover is high, so plan on short gaps at best.