Eta Aquariids in Rome

The Eta Aquariids meteor shower peaks from Rome around May 5-6, with up to 40 meteors per hour under ideal conditions. In 2026 a new moon means dark skies, and from Rome the radiant in Aquarius climbs to 22° above the south-east horizon around 04:50. Local best viewing window: 03:35–04:50 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 Rome under a genuinely dark sky. At this latitude the sky never gets fully dark that night — the Sun only reaches 31.6° below the horizon — so only the brighter meteors will show. Tonight: widespread cloud, with little clear sky forecast.