Eta Aquariids in Zurich

The Eta Aquariids meteor shower peaks from Zurich around May 5-6, with up to 40 meteors per hour under ideal conditions. In 2026 a new moon means dark skies, and from Zurich the radiant in Aquarius climbs to 16° above the east horizon around 04:40. Local best viewing window: 03:55–04:40 CEST on the peak night, about 0.8 hours of nautical twilight. Scaled to that altitude, the 40/hour headline figure works out to roughly 11 meteors an hour from Zurich under a genuinely dark sky. At this latitude the sky never gets fully dark that night — the Sun only reaches 26.1° below the horizon — so only the brighter meteors will show. Tonight: mostly cloud-free — light pollution will be the limiting factor.