Don't Miss Tuesday Night's Triple Meteor Shower Bonanza — What To Know
Are you ready to see two meteor showers peak — just as a third gets going? Late Tuesday, July 29, and into the early hours of Wednesday, July 30, sees the peak of two meteor showers as summer's 'shooting star' season gets underway.
The Delta Aquariids and Alpha Capricornids will peak simultaneously under mostly favorable conditions, with the moon setting early in the evening to leave skies dark enough to catch up to 30 meteors per hour. Just to add to the excitement, the annual Perseids meteor shower — which peaks in August — could add to the show. Here's everything you need to know about the three overlapping meteor showers
Delta Aquariid Meteor Shower: What To Know
Peak night: July 29/30
Meteors per hour: up to 25
It's often overlooked because of the more prolific Perseid meteor shower that occurs just a few weeks later, but this year, the Delta Aquariids will arguably take center stage. With the Perseids bound to be badly affected by the moon, the Delta Aquarids could see about 25 meteors — albeit rather faint ones — visible in moonless night skies on the peak night. However, getting far from light pollution would be wise. It's a meteor shower with a broad peak, so you can start looking for them on any clear night in late July and early August, but note that its radiant point — where the meteors appear to come from — is low in the south as seen from the Northern Hemisphere.
Alpha Capricornid Meteor Shower: What To Know
Peak night: July 29/30
Meteors per hour: up to 5
A minor meteor shower, the Alpha Capricornids began on July 12 and will ramble on until Aug. 12. Its 'shooting stars' — fragments left behind in the inner solar system by comets — will number around five, which may add to the spectacle created by the Delta Aquariids and the Perseids. Although they may be relatively scant, Alpha Capricornids can often be bright fireballs, so they are worth looking out for.
Perseid Meteor Shower: What To Know
Peak night: Aug. 12-13
Meteors per hour: up to 75-100
The Perseid meteor shower — one of the year's most prolific in the Northern Hemisphere — kicked off on Jul. 17 and will continue to produce "shooting stars" until Aug. 23. That's lucky because its peak night on Aug. 12-13 occurs only a few nights after a full moon. With a bleached sky, only the very brightest Perseids will be visible, making the last few nights of July the best time to see them. During this period, expect about 5-15 meteors per hour. The radiant point of the Perseids lies in the constellation Perseus, but meteors can appear throughout the sky.
How To Watch A Meteor Shower
For the best viewing experience, find a dark location away from city lights and check weather forecasts for clear skies. Observing is best done with the naked eye rather than through telescopes or binoculars. Consider bringing a lawn chair or blanket, and avoid bright screens that can impair night vision. Remember to dress warmly, use bug spray, bring snacks, and take breaks from watching the sky every 30 minutes.
For exact timings, use a sunrise and sunset calculator for where you are, Stellarium Web for a sky chart and Night Sky Tonight: Visible Planets at Your Location for positions and rise/set times for planets.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNN
an hour ago
- CNN
Where to see the meteor showers this week
Sky-gazers may get a good chance to see fireballs streak across the night sky this week. Two meteor showers — the Alpha Capricornids and Southern Delta Aquariids — will reach their peak and another is ramping up. The Alpha Capricornids meteor shower, which is best known for producing very bright meteors called fireballs that may look like shooting stars, will be most visible at 1 a.m. ET Wednesday, according to Robert Lunsford, fireball report coordinator for the American Meteor Society. Its radiant — the point at which the meteor streaks seem to originate — is in the Capricorn constellation. The Alpha Capricornids are visible all over the world but are usually best seen from the Southern Hemisphere, in places such as Australia and Africa, according to Bill Cooke, the lead for NASA's Meteoroid Environments Office. These meteors are expected to appear at a rate of three to five per hour. If you are viewing from the Northern Hemisphere, keep your eyes low along the southern sky to catch a glimpse. If you stay up later, you'll be able to see the Southern Delta Aquariids reach peak activity at 3 a.m. ET on Wednesday, said Lunsford. The Southern Delta Aquariids, which also are most visible in the Southern Hemisphere, make for a stronger shower than the Capricornids; people located in parts of the Northern Hemisphere such as the US can expect to view up to 10 to 15 meteors per hour, while those in the Southern Hemisphere may see 20 to 25 per hour. The Aquariids appear to stream from the southern part of the Aquarius constellation, which is around 40 degrees east of the Capricorn constellation, according to Lunsford: 'They're going to kind of do a battle, shooting back and forth at each other.' Both showers will be visible through August 13, though there is some disagreement about the date on which their peaks will occur. While experts at the American Meteor Society say peak activity will occur Tuesday night into early Wednesday morning, those at NASA say it will happen Wednesday night going into Thursday. 'The time of a meteor shower peak is not constant from year-to-year. It can vary by plus or minus a day or two,' Cooke said. But missing the peak, according to Lunsford, is nothing to fret about. 'It's not a real sharp peak …You can go out (on) the 31st or the 29th and see pretty much the same activity.' For the best viewing, avoid areas with bright lights and objects that could obscure your view of the sky, such as tall trees or buildings. Picking a spot with a higher altitude, like a mountain or hill, may make it easier to spot these showers. According to Cook, having multiple meteor showers occur at the same time is a common phenomenon. 'For example, during the Perseids, you have the remnants of the Southern Delta Aquariids going on,' he said. Right now, the Alpha Capricornids, the Southern Delta Aquariids and Perseids are all active and while the Perseids is not at its peak , you might still see some of its meteors this week. There's also the possibility of seeing 10 to 12 meteors that aren't associated with any of these showers, according to Lunsford. Both the Alpha Capricornids and Southern Delta Aquariids become visible annually when Earth passes through debris fields left by two Jupiter-family comets: 169P/NEAT (Alpha Capricornids) and P2008/Y12 (Southern Delta Aquariids). Cook also noted that, each year, 'we're passing closer to the core of the material that produces (the Alpha Capricornids) shower and in 200 years, it'll be the strongest shower that's visible from Earth. It'll actually produce more than 1,000 (meteor streaks) an hour, which is quite a bit stronger than it is now.' For those interested in contributing to astronomers' understanding of meteors, this week presents the perfect opportunity to count how many meteors you see in the night sky and report them to places like the American Meteor Society. Here are the other meteor showers to anticipate in 2025 and their peak dates, according to the American Meteor Society and EarthSky. Perseids: August 12-13 Draconids: October 8-9 Orionids: October 22-23 Southern Taurids: November 3-4 Northern Taurids: November 8-9 Leonids: November 16-17 Geminids: December 12-13 Ursids: December 21-22 Look out for five more full moons this year, with supermoons occurring in October, November and December. Here's the list of full moons remaining in 2025, according to the Farmers' Almanac: August 9: Sturgeon moon September 7: Corn moon October 6: Harvest moon November 5: Beaver moon December 4: Cold moon Two eclipse events will occur as summer ends. A total lunar eclipse will be visible in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, parts of eastern South America, Alaska and Antarctica on September 7 and 8, according to Time and Date. A lunar eclipse occurs when Earth passes exactly between the sun and the moon, throwing the latter into shadow and making it appear darker or dimmed. When the moon sits in the darkest part of Earth's shadow, the sun's rays bend around Earth and refract light on the moon's surface, which gives it a reddish hue, according to London's Natural History Museum. Some people call the result a 'blood moon.' Two weeks after the total lunar eclipse, a partial solar eclipse will be visible in parts of Australia, the Atlantic, the Pacific and Antarctica on September 21. Solar eclipses occur when the moon moves between the sun and Earth, blocking part of the sun's surface from view, according to NASA. This creates a crescent shape — as if something took a 'bite' out of the sun. Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more.
CNN
an hour ago
- CNN
Where to see the meteor showers this week
Astronomy Federal agenciesFacebookTweetLink Follow Sky-gazers may get a good chance to see fireballs streak across the night sky this week. Two meteor showers —the Alpha Capricornids and Southern Delta Aquariids — will reach their peak and another is ramping up. The Alpha Capricornids meteor shower, which is best known for producing very bright meteors called fireballs that may look like shooting stars, will be most visible at 1 a.m. ET Wednesday, according to Robert Lunsford, fireball report coordinator for the American Meteor Society. Its radiant — the point at which the meteor streaks seem to originate — is in the Capricorn constellation. The Alpha Capricornids are visible all over the world but are usually best seen from the Southern Hemisphere, in places such as Australia and Africa, according to Bill Cooke, the lead for NASA's Meteoroid Environments Office. These meteors are expected to appear at a rate of three to five per hour. If you are viewing from the Northern Hemisphere, keep your eyes low along the southern sky to catch a glimpse. If you stay up later, you'll be able to see the Southern Delta Aquariids reach peak activity at 3 a.m. ET on Wednesday, said Lunsford. The Southern Delta Aquariids, which also are most visible in the Southern Hemisphere, make for a stronger shower than the Capricornids; people located in parts of the Northern Hemisphere such as the US can expect to view up to 10 to 15 meteors per hour, while those in the Southern Hemisphere may see 20 to 25 per hour. The Aquariids appear to stream from the southern part of the Aquarius constellation, which is around 40 degrees east of the Capricorn constellation, according to Lunsford: 'They're going to kind of do a battle, shooting back and forth at each other.' Both showers will be visible through August 13, though there is some disagreement about the date on which their peaks will occur. While experts at the American Meteor Society say peak activity will occur Tuesday night into early Wednesday morning, those at NASA say it will happen Wednesday night going into Thursday. 'The time of a meteor shower peak is not constant from year-to-year. It can vary by plus or minus a day or two,' Cooke said. But missing the peak, according to Lunsford, is nothing to fret about. 'It's not a real sharp peak …You can go out (on) the 31st or the 29th and see pretty much the same activity.' For the best viewing, avoid areas with bright lights and objects that could obscure your view of the sky, such as tall trees or buildings. Picking a spot with a higher altitude, like a mountain or hill, may make it easier to spot these showers. According to Cook, having multiple meteor showers occur at the same time is a common phenomenon. 'For example, during the Perseids, you have the remnants of the Southern Delta Aquariids going on,' he said. Right now, the Alpha Capricornids, the Southern Delta Aquariids and Perseids are all active and while the Perseids is not at its peak , you might still see some of its meteors this week. There's also the possibility of seeing 10 to 12 meteors that aren't associated with any of these showers, according to Lunsford. Both the Alpha Capricornids and Southern Delta Aquariids become visible annually when Earth passes through debris fields left by two Jupiter-family comets: 169P/NEAT (Alpha Capricornids) and P2008/Y12 (Southern Delta Aquariids). Cook also noted that, each year, 'we're passing closer to the core of the material that produces (the Alpha Capricornids) shower and in 200 years, it'll be the strongest shower that's visible from Earth. It'll actually produce more than 1,000 (meteor streaks) an hour, which is quite a bit stronger than it is now.' For those interested in contributing to astronomers' understanding of meteors, this week presents the perfect opportunity to count how many meteors you see in the night sky and report them to places like the American Meteor Society. Here are the other meteor showers to anticipate in 2025 and their peak dates, according to the American Meteor Society and EarthSky. Perseids: August 12-13 Draconids: October 8-9 Orionids: October 22-23 Southern Taurids: November 3-4 Northern Taurids: November 8-9 Leonids: November 16-17 Geminids: December 12-13 Ursids: December 21-22 Look out for five more full moons this year, with supermoons occurring in October, November and December. Here's the list of full moons remaining in 2025, according to the Farmers' Almanac: August 9: Sturgeon moon September 7: Corn moon October 6: Harvest moon November 5: Beaver moon December 4: Cold moon Two eclipse events will occur as summer ends. A total lunar eclipse will be visible in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, parts of eastern South America, Alaska and Antarctica on September 7 and 8, according to Time and Date. A lunar eclipse occurs when Earth passes exactly between the sun and the moon, throwing the latter into shadow and making it appear darker or dimmed. When the moon sits in the darkest part of Earth's shadow, the sun's rays bend around Earth and refract light on the moon's surface, which gives it a reddish hue, according to London's Natural History Museum. Some people call the result a 'blood moon.' Two weeks after the total lunar eclipse, a partial solar eclipse will be visible in parts of Australia, the Atlantic, the Pacific and Antarctica on September 21. Solar eclipses occur when the moon moves between the sun and Earth, blocking part of the sun's surface from view, according to NASA. This creates a crescent shape — as if something took a 'bite' out of the sun. Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more.
Fast Company
3 hours ago
- Fast Company
Twin meteor showers will light up the July sky: Here's when to catch shooting stars tonight ahead of the Perseids
This summer's best evening light show is taking place tonight, so don't forget to go outside and look up. Although the Perseid meteor shower doesn't peak until next month, tonight is forecast to be the best time to view stars shoot across the night sky. Here's why and what to know. What is a meteor shower? Meteor showers, or shooting stars, occur as Earth passes through the trail of dusty debris left by a comet, according to NASA; and are usually named after a star or constellation close to where the meteors first appear. What's happening tonight? Late each summer, the Perseids, and the lesser-known Delta Aquariids meteor showers appear; and this year are forecast to run steadily from late July through early August. The first of the showers, the Southern Delta Aquariid and the Alpha Capricornids are set to peak tonight, Tuesday, July 29 into tomorrow morning, Wednesday, July 30, according to the Associated Press. Visibility should be good because the moon is only about a quarter full; and sky-watchers could see some 20 to 30 meteors per hour, astronomer Nick Moskovitz of the Lowell Observatory in Arizona told National Public Radio. Perseid meteor shower set to peak in early August Meanwhile, the Perseid meteor shower is forecast to peak on Tuesday, August 12 into August 13, right after a full moon, but bright moonlight will likely obscure the view at its peak. NASA viewing tips for meteor showers Our friends at NASA offer these general tips (as Fast Company has previously reported): Find a viewing spot away from city or street lights. Lie flat on your back with your feet facing east. You may want to bring a blanket or a lounge chair. Look up, taking in as much of the sky as possible. After about 30 minutes in the dark, your eyes will adapt and you will begin to see meteors. Be patient. The show could last awhile, so you have plenty of time to catch a glimpse.
