Eta Aquariids in Vienna

The Eta Aquariids meteor shower peaks from Vienna around May 5-6, with up to 40 meteors per hour under ideal conditions. In 2026 a new moon means dark skies, and from Vienna the radiant in Aquarius climbs to 15° above the east horizon around 04:05. Local best viewing window: 03:25–04:05 CEST on the peak night, about 0.7 hours of nautical twilight. Scaled to that altitude, the 40/hour headline figure works out to roughly 10 meteors an hour from Vienna under a genuinely dark sky. At this latitude the sky never gets fully dark that night — the Sun only reaches 25.3° below the horizon — so only the brighter meteors will show. Tonight: mixed cloud, so clear spells come and go.