Shooting stars in Meldert

The shooting star calendar, made for Belgium

Every year, the Earth passes through trails of dust left behind by comets: these grains burn up in the atmosphere and become our shooting stars. This page follows the nine major showers visible from Belgium, from the Quadrantids in January to the Geminids in December, with the exact peak for each one, its window of activity, the theoretical hourly rate (ZHR) and the best viewing hours.

The real question remains: "is it worth going out tonight?" To answer it, the page calculates for your town the night's cloud cover, the moon's illumination (the sworn enemy of faint meteors) and the hours of true darkness, then gives a simple verdict. A tip from the regulars: head for the High Fens or deep into the Ardennes, far from light pollution, and expect 30 to 50 % of the theoretical ZHR at our latitudes.