Eta Aquariids in Brussels

The Eta Aquariids meteor shower peaks from Brussels around May 5-6, with up to 40 meteors per hour under ideal conditions. In 2026 a new moon means dark skies, and from Brussels the radiant in Aquarius climbs to 18° above the south-east horizon around 05:25. Local best viewing window: 04:15–05:25 CEST on the peak night, about 1.2 hours of civil twilight. Scaled to that altitude, the 40/hour headline figure works out to roughly 12 meteors an hour from Brussels under a genuinely dark sky. At this latitude the sky never gets fully dark that night — the Sun only reaches 22.7° below the horizon — so only the brighter meteors will show. Tonight: widespread cloud, with little clear sky forecast.