Delta Aquariids Meteor shower: when and how to watch

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CNN –

Between midnight and dawn on Wednesday and Thursday (July 28 – 29), delta meteor showers will illuminate the night sky.

As the Earth revolves around the sun, it encounters the lopsided orbit of a comet, whose icy surface leaves behind dust and rocks as it boils from the sun’s heat. When these space rocks fall toward our atmosphere, “resistance – or drag – of the air on the rock makes it extremely hot,” according to NASA. “What we see is a ‘meteor.’ This bright streak isn’t actually the rock, it’s the hot, glowing air as the hot rock shoots through the atmosphere. When Earth encounters many meteors at once, we call it a meteor shower.”

Suspected of originating from Comet 96P Machholz, meteor showers occur in the southern delta anytime between July 12 and August 23 annually. This year, it peaks during the nights of July 28 and 29. The Alpha Capricornids, a weaker meteor shower, also peak on the same nights. Known to emit bright fireballs during its peak, Alpha Capricornids will be visible to all.

The Delta Aquariids meteor shower can be seen better than people in the Southern Hemisphere. Meteors, which tend to number 10 to 20 per hour and fly at 25 miles per second, are most visible between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. in all time zones, when the faint constellation Aquarius the Water Bearer—the shower’s radiant point—is highest. In the sky, according to EarthSky.

John Shomack / Science Source

The southern delta meteor shower, pictured above from the previous year, peaks on July 28 or 29.

If you go outside 30 minutes before you shower, your eyes can adjust to the dark, according to NASA. For those in the Southern Hemisphere, the radiation is closer to the top; People in the northern hemisphere should look at the southern part of the sky. You don’t need to use a telescope, and people don’t have to focus as much on the radioactive spots as meteors will appear all over the sky, EarthSky advised.

A waning Convex Moon (74% full) will block some of the meteor showers this week, making viewing in an area with little or no light pollution — such as buildings and traffic — critical. But in early August, 13% of the full moon (a waxing crescent moon) will simplify meteor viewing even though they will be off-peak.

The dark sky is also important if you want to see the trails of the Delta Aquariids with the Perseid meteor shower. Perseid, the most popular rain of the year, originates from a different radioactive point, is brighter than the Delta Aquariids and peaks during the early mornings of August 11-13.

Although understanding and observing the radioactive points isn’t critical to viewing the Delta Aquariids, it is essential to distinguish the Delta Aquariids from the August Perseids shower, according to EarthSky.

While the delta of Aquarius radiates from the vicinity of the constellation Aquarius, the Perseids fly from the constellation Perseus, which is located in the northeastern part of the sky. So if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorites that emerge from the northeast are Perseids, while the meteors coming from the south are Delta Aquarids, according to EarthSky.

There are more meteor showers you can catch during the remainder of 2021, according to EarthSky’s 2021 Meteor Shower Guide:

Sarah Molano and CNN’s Ashley Strickland contributed to this story.

Oct 8: Draconids Oct 21: Orionids Nov 4-5: South Taurids Nov 11-12: North Taurids Nov 17: Leonids Dec 13-14: Geminids Dec 22: Ursids.

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