Get ready for a meteor shower double-header.
Southern Delta Aquarids Meteor shower It will reach its peak in late July, and this year it will overlap with the Alpha Capricornids, the second smaller meteor shower.
The Delta Aquarid meteor shower occurs annually in late summer in North America. Peak activity this year The meteor shower will occur early Tuesday morning, with 15 to 20 meteors per hour expected under dark skies in the Northern Hemisphere. Visibility will be even better in the Southern Hemisphere. The shower will last through August 21, according to the American Meteor Society.
Around the same time, the Alpha Capricornids meteor shower will produce about five meteors per hour and will continue until August 15th.
Here’s what you need to know about the Delta Aquariid meteor shower and other meteor showers.
What are meteor showers?
Meteor showers occur multiple times each year and don’t require any special equipment to observe.
Most meteor showers originate from cometary remains. The Delta Aquarids meteor shower is thought to originate from Comet 96P/Machholz. The Alpha Capricornids meteor shower originates from Comet 169P/NEAT.
When a rock from space enters Earth’s atmosphere, the resistance of the air heats it up so much that it briefly glows and leaves a fiery tail behind it – the end of a “shooting star.”
Glowing chunks of air surrounding fast-moving space rocks, ranging in size from dust grains to boulders, may be visible in the night sky.
Don Polacco, an astronomer at the University of Warwick, said that while the two meteor showers don’t produce many, the Alpha Capricornids frequently produce very bright meteors.
To an astronomer, “one bright one is worth more than 20 dim ones,” he says.
How to see the meteor shower
The meteor shower is usually best visible between midnight and just before dawn.
Shooting stars are easier to see under dark skies away from city lights, and meteor showers appear brightest on cloudless nights when the moon is at its smallest.
Your eyes will also be more likely to become accustomed to seeing meteors if you don’t check your phone. “Cell phones impair night vision,” says NASA’s Bill Cook.
In the Southern Hemisphere, the Delta Aquarids meteor shower is best seen just after midnight, when the moon will overlap with a waning moon that is about 30% full.
When is the next meteor shower?
The Meteor Society maintains an up-to-date list of upcoming major meteor showers, including peak viewing dates and moonlight conditions.
The next major meteor shower is the Perseids, which peaks in mid-August.
